Turn Point Light Station

Last updated
Turn Point Light
Turn Point Lighthouse (16470653998).jpg
Turn Point Light Station
Location Stuart Island, Washington
Coordinates 48°41′21″N123°14′14″W / 48.68917°N 123.23722°W / 48.68917; -123.23722 Coordinates: 48°41′21″N123°14′14″W / 48.68917°N 123.23722°W / 48.68917; -123.23722 [1]
Tower
Constructed1893  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
FoundationSurface
Construction Concrete
Automated1974
Height20 feet (6.1 m)
ShapeSquare
Light
First lit1893
Focal height13 m (43 ft)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Lens12 inches (300 mm)
Range8 nmi (15 km; 9.2 mi)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Characteristic White flash every 2.5 s

The Turn Point Light Station is an active aid to navigation overlooking Haro Strait from the western tip of Stuart Island, San Juan County, Washington, in the northwest of the United States. [2] [3] The light marks a sharp turn in the shipping lanes at the transition between Haro Strait and Boundary Pass.

Contents

History

Operations at Turn Point commenced in 1893 with the construction of a fog signal building, a two-story keeper's quarters, and a barn. The structures were designed by U.S. Lighthouse Board architect Carl W. Leick. The station's first light was a lens lantern displayed from a post located close to the point. A Daboll trumpet served as the fog signal. [4]

As originally configured, the Daboll trumpet was powered by compressed air furnished by air-pumps driven by two Rider hot-air engines (a form of Stirling cycle engine). This machinery, and a supply of coal to fuel the engines, was located in the fog signal building.

The hot air engines were found to be underpowered. In 1900 they were replaced with internal combustion engines.

In 1913, an oil storage building was constructed to house a supply of fuel for the fog signal engines. [5]

The light was electrified in 1925. [6] Electricity for the navigation light and also for the lightkeeper's house was furnished by generators installed in the fog-signal building, in the room previously used to store coal for the old hot-air engines.

In 1936, a square concrete tower was added to the site with a 12-inch (300 mm) light emanating at a 44-foot (13 m) focal plane. [7] A diaphragm foghorn replaced the Daboll trumpet.

The station was automated in 1974. [4]

The fog signal was removed in approximately 2010. The light is still in service.

The station is owned by the U.S. Coast Guard and managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. It is part of the San Juan Islands National Monument, which was created in 2013. [8] Volunteers through the Turn Point Lighthouse Preservation Society [9] offer seasonal docent guided tours of the original 1893 Keepers House. The fog signal building houses a small museum presenting the history of the light station. Information about the orca whales who frequent the waters off Turn Point is displayed the oil storage building.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foghorn</span> Device using sound to warn shipping in fog

A foghorn or fog signal is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards such as rocky coastlines, or boats of the presence of other vessels, in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport. When visual navigation aids such as lighthouses are obscured, foghorns provide an audible warning of rock outcrops, shoals, headlands, or other dangers to shipping.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point Wilson Light</span> Lighthouse

The Point Wilson Light is an active aid to navigation located in Fort Worden State Park near Port Townsend, Jefferson County, Washington. It is one of the most important navigational aids in the state, overlooking the entrance to Admiralty Inlet, the waterway connecting the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound. The lighthouse was listed on the Washington State Heritage Register and the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trevose Head Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse on the north coast of Cornwall, England

Trevose Head Lighthouse is a lighthouse on Trevose Head on the north Cornish coast at grid reference SW850766 lying to the WSW of Padstow and was sited here as there was previously no light from Land's End to Lundy and it would be visible from Cape Cornwall to Hartland Point.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Point Loma Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse in California, United States

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 in the 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Destruction Island Light</span> Lighthouse

Destruction Island Lighthouse is a decommissioned lighthouse on Destruction Island, a rocky island that is part of the Quillayute Needles National Wildlife Refuge lying about 3 miles (4.8 km) off the coast of Jefferson County, Washington, in the northwest of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burrows Island Light</span> Lighthouse

The Burrows Island Light is a lighthouse on the western tip of Burrows Island, facing Rosario Strait, near Anacortes, in Skagit County, Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Flattery Light</span> Lighthouse

The Cape Flattery Light is a historic lighthouse structure located at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca near Neah Bay, Clallam County, in the U.S. state of Washington, within the Makah Indian Reservation. The deactivated lighthouse sits on Tatoosh Island, which is named after Chief Tatooche of the Makah Tribe. It is the northwesternmost lighthouse on the West Coast of the contiguous United States. Although closed to the public, it can be viewed from Cape Flattery via a short 30-minute walk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cattle Point Light</span> Lighthouse

Cattle Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse on the southeastern tip of San Juan Island overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca where the Haro Straits meet the San Juan Channel, in San Juan County, Washington. The light lies adjacent to the state's Cattle Point Natural Resources Conservation Area and, since 2013, is part of the San Juan Islands National Monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lime Kiln Light</span> Lighthouse

The Lime Kiln Light is a functioning navigational aid located on Lime Kiln Point overlooking Dead Man's Bay on the western side of San Juan Island, San Juan County, Washington, in the United States. It guides ships through the Haro Straits and is part of Lime Kiln Point State Park, which offers tours during summer months.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marrowstone Point Light</span> Lighthouse

The Marrowstone Point Light is an active navigational aid overlooking Admiralty Inlet at the northern tip of Marrowstone Island, Jefferson County, Washington, in the United States. It lies adjacent to but is not part of Fort Flagler State Park; it may be viewed from the park's beach but is not open to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patos Island Light</span> Lighthouse

Patos Island Lighthouse is an active aid to navigation overlooking the Strait of Georgia at Alden Point on the western tip of Patos Island in the San Juan Islands, San Juan County, Washington, in the United States. The station is the northernmost in the San Juan Islands and marks the division point between the eastern and western passages into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point No Point Light (Washington)</span> Lighthouse in Washington, United States

Point No Point Light is an operational aid to navigation on the northeastern tip of the Kitsap Peninsula on the west side of Puget Sound, at Point No Point where Admiralty Inlet joins Puget Sound, near the small community of Hansville, Kitsap County, in the U.S. state of Washington. Point No Point Light is considered the oldest lighthouse on Puget Sound and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point Robinson Light</span> Lighthouse

The Point Robinson Light is an operational aid to navigation and historic lighthouse on Puget Sound, located at Point Robinson, the easternmost point of Maury Island, King County, in the U.S. state of Washington. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alcatraz Island Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse in the San Francisco Bay, California

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ballast Point Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse in California, United States

Ballast Point Lighthouse was a lighthouse in California, situated on Ballast Point, a tiny peninsula extending into San Diego Bay from Point Loma, San Diego, California. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daboll trumpet</span>

A Daboll trumpet is an air trumpet foghorn which was developed by an American, Celadon Leeds Daboll, of New London, Connecticut. It was basically a small coal-fired hot air engine, which compressed air in a cylinder on top of which was a reed horn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point Sur Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse in California, United States

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. Point Sur is the only complete turn-of-the-20th-century lightstation open to the public in California. Three-hour walking tours guided by volunteers are available on Wednesdays and weekends throughout the year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Cuckolds Light</span> Lighthouse in Maine, US

The Cuckolds Light, known as the Cuckolds Island Fog Signal and Light Station or just Cuckolds Light Station, is a lighthouse located on the eastern pair of islets known as the "Cuckolds" in Lincoln County, Maine. The islets are southeast and in sight of Cape Island, that is just off the southern tip of Cape Newagen on Southport Island, south of Booth Bay, that leads to Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manana Island Sound Signal Station</span> Lighthouse

The Manana Island Sound Signal Station is an active fog signal station on Manana Island, Maine, United States. Established in 1855, it is one of the only separately managed fog signals in the United States, having been operationally independent of Monhegan Island Light for most of its existence. It is also home to the only known fog signal trumpet tower, built in 1889. The station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Manana Island Fog Signal Station in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dungeness Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse

Dungeness Lighthouse on the Dungeness Headland started operation on 20 November 1961. Its construction was prompted by the building of Dungeness nuclear power station, which obscured the light of its predecessor which, though decommissioned, remains standing. The new lighthouse is constructed of precast concrete rings; its pattern of black and white bands is impregnated into the concrete. It remains in use today, monitored and controlled from the Trinity House Operations and Planning Centre at Harwich, Essex.

References

  1. "Turn Point Lighthouse". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  2. "Historic Light Station Information & Photography: Washington". U.S. Coast Guard. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  3. "West Point Light". Inventory of Historic Light Stations: Washington Lighthouses. National Park Service. Archived from the original on May 1, 2004. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Turn Point, WA". Lighthousefriends. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  5. "Turn Point, WA". Lighthousefriends.com.
  6. Bergquist, James (2012). The History of Stuart Island. p. 85.
  7. Rowlett, Russ (October 19, 2014). "Lighthouses of the United States: Washington". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  8. "San Juan Islands National Monument: Plan Your Visit". U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
  9. "TPLPS Home Page". www.tplps.org. Retrieved 2017-03-07.