Location | Point Loma, California |
---|---|
Coordinates | 32°41′11.0″N117°13′57.0″W / 32.686389°N 117.232500°W |
Tower | |
Constructed | 1890 |
Height | 34 foot (10 m) |
Shape | Square |
Light | |
First lit | 1891 |
Deactivated | 1960 (Demolished) |
Lens | Fifth order Fresnel lens |
Characteristic | Fixed White |
Ballast Point Lighthouse was a lighthouse in San Diego, California, situated on Ballast Point, a tiny peninsula extending into San Diego Bay from Point Loma. The lighthouse was torn down in 1960; the site is now on the grounds of Naval Base Point Loma. Ballast Point Lighthouse was the last lighthouse displaying a fixed light on the Pacific coast. An automated light is left in its place and operates on a piling in the water off of the original site.
Historical information from Coast Guard web site: [1]
- By Harmon Lougher, Photographer’s Mate First Class
Ballast Point is a tiny peninsula extending from Point Loma into the channel entrance to the harbor of San Diego. The point derived its name from the fact that the early Yankee skippers would have stones gathered from Ballast Point to serve as ballast in their ships during their returns around Cape Horn to their home town, Boston.
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo sailed from the Port of Navidad (now Acapulco) in 1542 and, after bucking head winds and seas for five months, sighted the Coronado Islands. As he continued on, the headland of Point Loma rose from the sea. Working his way past the kelp beds, he dropped anchor in the quiet waters inside the present Ballast Point on September 28, 1542. Cabrillo tarried for six days in this spacious harbor which he named San Miguel. Sixty years passed before the placid waters around Ballast Point were again disturbed by deep-sea keels, when Sebastián Vizcaíno anchored on November 10, 1602. He renamed the harbor San Diego in honor of that Saint's day. In 1769, Spain decided to occupy the vast territory by converting the Indians to the Catholic faith and teaching them domestic pursuits. By this time little transports were coming with supplies on a haphazard schedule, and when the Clipper ship Aranzaya arrived in 1795, she brought three workmen and the necessary timber to build a fort at Ballast Point, or as it was known at that time, Point Guijarros.
Shore whaling was a natural for the people in this area since the whales reversed the usual procedure and came to the whaler. The carcases were towed to Ballast Point where the blubber was boiled in 150-gallon try pots.
In 1890, Ballast Point Lighthouse was constructed. The original buildings consisted of two dwellings and a light tower which was part of the keeper’s quarters. The light was a fifth order fixed classical lens with a green shade, inside a brass and glass lantern with a focal height of 34 feet (10 m). The tower itself was a white square tower.
In June of this year (1960), the old dwellings were torn down leaving the tower free standing; however, during repairs to the tower it was found to be unstable due to failure of the brick and mortar foundation.
"The 1960s did not destroy Ballast Point lighthouse completely. After the tower was torn down, the lantern room moved around San Diego County, finally settling outside the West Sea Company in Old Town (2495 Congress St), where you can view it today. The fog signal tower was also moved in 1961 after it was discontinued to a home in Lakeside California, where it remains." [2]
Historical information from Coast Guard web site: [1]
- By Harmon Lougher, Photographer’s Mate First Class
It was decided to relocate the light on top of the fog signal building and demolish the old tower. Cabrillo National Monument, National Park Service, requested the lens and light for their museum soon to be built. Arrangements have been made for that Service to remove the lantern and lens prior to the demolition of the tower. The new light is a standard 375 millimetres (14.8 in) lens with storm panes, which will be an occulting white, six second light, three seconds off, three seconds on.
The old light used a 120 volt, 300 watt lamp, giving 1700 candlepower. The new light, even though it uses a slightly smaller lamp, 32 volt, 250 watt, will give 9000 candlepower, due to the increased efficiency of the filament and the removal of the green shade. The fog signal is a single tone diaphone which emits 1 blast every 15 seconds. In the event the diaphone becomes inoperative, the men on station are required to ring a large bell by hand, with one stroke every seconds. As a matter of interest it is noted the diaphone has never been inoperative since installation in 1926. Adjacent to the light structure are located a new three-bedroom and a four-bedroom duplex type dwelling, completely furnished which house resident personnel and their families. The new light has been shown from its new location since 5 August, and the demolition of the old tower is presently being accomplished. Ballast Point was the last lighthouse displaying a fixed light on the Pacific Coast.
The only reminder left of the Ballast Point Lighthouse is an automated light operating at Ballast Point on a piling in the water off of Ballast Point. [3] It is listed as USCG number 6-1570, showing a white flash every four seconds (Fl W 4s). A daymark and a fog horn are also installed. [4]
Cabrillo National Monument is a national monument at the southern tip of the Point Loma Peninsula in San Diego, California, United States. It commemorates the landing of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542. This event marked the first time a European expedition had set foot on what later became the West Coast of the United States. The site was designated as California Historical Landmark #56 in 1932. The area was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.
The original Point Loma Lighthouse is a historic lighthouse located on the Point Loma peninsula at the mouth of San Diego Bay in San Diego, California. It is situated within Cabrillo National Monument. It is no longer in operation as a lighthouse but is open to the public as a museum. It is sometimes erroneously called the "Old Spanish Lighthouse", but in fact it was not built during San Diego's Spanish or Mexican eras; it was built in 1855 by the United States government after California's admission as a state.
Alcatraz Island Lighthouse is a lighthouse—the first one built on the U.S. West Coast—located on Alcatraz Island in California's San Francisco Bay. It is located at the southern end of the island near the entrance to the prison. The first light house on the island was completed in 1854, and served the bay during its time as a Citadel and military prison. It was replaced by a taller concrete tower built in 1909 to the south of the original one which was demolished after it was damaged due to earthquake in 1906. The automation of the lighthouse with a modern beacon took place in 1963, the year Alcatraz closed as the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. It is the oldest light station on the island with a modern beacon and is part of the museum on the island. Although when viewed from afar it easily looks the tallest structure on Alcatraz, it is actually shorter than the Alcatraz Water Tower, but as it lies on higher ground it looks much taller.
Anacapa Island Lighthouse is a lighthouse in California, United States, on the entrance to Santa Barbara Channel, California. Constructed in 1912, it was the last major light station built on the west coast. Anacapa and several other islands were collectively designated as Channel Islands National Monument in 1938, though the Coast Guard retained responsibility for the Anacapa lighthouse. Now fully automated and unmanned, the light house still operates, but the National Park Service (NPS) is responsible for Channel Islands National Park.
The New Point Loma Lighthouse is a lighthouse at the southern tip of the Point Loma peninsula in San Diego, California.
Point Cabrillo Light is a lighthouse in northern California, United States, between Point Arena and Cape Mendocino, just south of the community of Caspar. It has been a federal aid to navigation since 1909. It is part of the California state park system as Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park.
Point Vicente Lighthouse is a lighthouse in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, United States, north of Los Angeles Harbor. It is 67 feet (20 m) tall and stands on a cliff with a height of 130 feet (40 m). It is between Point Loma Lighthouse to the south and Point Conception Lighthouse to the north. The lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The lighthouse is owned by the United States federal government and is managed by the United States Coast Guard. It is not usually open to the public, but the Coast Guard Auxiliary run tours once per month and it is used annually for the city's "Whale of a Day" festival.
Table Bluff Lighthouse is a lighthouse in California, United States, which was located on Table Bluff just south of Humboldt Bay. Built to guide vessels away from the notoriously dangerous and rough coastline and to let them know proximity of the nearby bay and entrance, the lighthouse was one of the first to be automated. The lighthouse tower portion is now located at the Woodley Island Marina within the City of Eureka.
The Manistee Pierhead lights are a pair of active aids to navigation located on the north and south pier in the harbor of Manistee, Michigan, "Lake Michigan’s Victorian Port City."
The Menominee North Pier lighthouse is located in the harbor of Menominee, Michigan. The station was first lit in 1877. The current structure and its still operational light was lit in 1927, and automated in 1972. It is also sometimes called the "Menominee (Marinette) North Pierhead Light".
Point Sur Lighthouse is a lightstation at Point Sur 24.6 miles (39.6 km) south of Monterey, California at the peak of the 361-foot (110 m) rock at the head of the point. It was established in 1889 and is part of Point Sur State Historic Park. The light house is 40 feet (12 m) tall and 270 feet (82 m) above sea level. As of 2016, and for the foreseeable future the light is still in operation as an essential aid to navigation.
The Harbor Beach Lighthouse is a "sparkplug lighthouse" located at the end of the north breakwall entrance to the harbor of refuge on Lake Huron. The breakwall and light were created by the United States Army Corps of Engineers to protect the harbor of Harbor Beach, Michigan, which is the largest man-made freshwater harbor in the world. Harbor Beach is located on the eastern edge of the Thumb of Huron County, in the state of Michigan.
Bull Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse on Bull Point, about one mile (1.6 km) north of the village of Mortehoe, on the northern coast of Devon, England. The lighthouse provides a visual aid to the villages of Mortehoe, Woolacombe and Ilfracombe, and warns of the inhospitable and rocky coast that lines the area.
Long Point Light Station is a historic lighthouse at the northeast tip of Long Point in Provincetown, Massachusetts. As a navigational aid, it marks the southwest edge of the entrance to Provincetown Harbor. The United States Coast Guard Light List describes it simply as a "white square tower". The light it casts is green, occulting every 4 seconds, and, at a focal height of 35.5 feet (10.8 m) above mean sea level, has a visible range of 8 nautical miles. When the weather affords low-visibility, one can hear the station's fog horn – sounding a single blast for two seconds, and repeating every 15 seconds – as it seems to call out for its nearly-identical closest neighbor, the Wood End Light.
Pigeon Point Light Station or Pigeon Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse built in 1871 to guide ships on the Pacific coast of California. It is the tallest lighthouse on the West Coast of the United States. It is still an active Coast Guard aid to navigation. Pigeon Point Light Station is located on the coastal highway, 5 miles (8 km) south of Pescadero, California, between Santa Cruz and San Francisco. The 115-foot (35 m), white masonry tower, resembles the typical New England structure.
Rawley Point Light is a lighthouse located in Point Beach State Forest, near Two Rivers, Wisconsin. At 111 feet (34 m) tall, it is the tallest lighthouse on the Wisconsin Shore and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Two Rivers Light is a lighthouse formerly located at the harbor entrance to Two Rivers, Wisconsin. It is now located in a museum in the city.
The Duluth South Breakwater Outer Light is a lighthouse on the south breakwater of the Duluth Ship Canal in Duluth, Minnesota, United States. It forms a range with the Duluth South Breakwater Inner Light to guide ships into the canal from Lake Superior.
The Gannet Rock Lighthouse is a Canadian lighthouse located on a rocky islet 8 miles (13 km) south of Grand Manan in the Bay of Fundy. It was first lit in 1831 and was staffed until 1996. It was solarized in 2002 and remains operational in 2023. It was declared "surplus to requirements" by the Canadian Coast Guard in 2010 and is no longer being maintained.
Mew Island Lighthouse is an active lighthouse within the Copeland Islands of County Down in Northern Ireland. The current 19th-century tower is the most recent in a series of lighthouses that have been built in the islands, which have helped to guide shipping around the archipelago and into Belfast Lough.