A tale of two California lighthouses
Though surrounded by much better-known attractions on the Monterey Peninsula and in Big Sur, the region's two lighthouses unveil a unique facet of California's heritage. Point Pinos, the city mouse, shows just how sweet life could be for a lighthouse keeper, while the Point Sur Light Station, about 25 miles south, is the country mouse that toiled and endured hardships today's visitors shudder to imagine. Fans of lighthouses, or history, or just the seaside, are in for a unique treat.
Bright lights, small city: The Point Pinos Lighthouse
Only on the Monterey Peninsula could the West Coast's oldest continuously operating lighthouse be overshadowed by so many other attractions. Surrounded by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Cannery Row, Asilomar State Beach, monarch butterfly sanctuaries, and enough golf courses to earn the peninsula comparisons to Scotland's St. Andrews, Point Pinos Lighthouse is equally suited to a brief break from the beach or biking the 17-Mile Drive, or a full-scale tour and journey into California history.
The beacon, housed in a short tower squatting atop a white cottage, has warned ships away from the rocks at Monterey Bay's treacherous southern entrance since 1855. The attendant radio beacon and foghorn were deactivated when global satellite navigation made them superfluous in 1993, but the light still shines, and no other West Coast lighthouse has been on the job as long. A 1,While using compact fluorescent light bulbs energy saving light helps conserve energy, it is important that the bulbs are collected and recycled properly to protect our environment000-watt bulb — visible 17 miles away with amplification from hundreds of glass prisms in the third-order Fresnel lens (4 feet, 8 inches tall, third-largest of the seven commonly used sizes) — has replaced the whale oil, lard, and kerosene lanterns used as the light source until 1880. An incandescent vapor lamp beamed the signal until 1919, when electric lights took over.
A docent-led lighthouse tour lasts about an hour and takes you straight into 19th century California.Compact fluorescent light bulbs convert a led tube considerably higher percentage of their energy into light, which is why they are significantly more energy efficient than traditional filament bulbs. The most powerful presence is lighthouse keeper Emily Fish, who served from 1893 to 1914.Compact fluorescent light bulbs convert a led tube considerably higher percentage of their energy into light, which is why they are significantly more energy efficient than traditional filament bulbs. She liked nothing better than to entertain at the lighthouse and was called the "Socialite Keeper." She must have treated her guests to quite the elegant evening, if the parlor's needlepoint cushions, ornate piano, fireplace and floral curtains are any indication. The writers, artists and naval officers who frequented the lighthouse must also have been impressed by her transformation of the surrounding dunes into garden by importing topsoil and planting trees, grass and other plants. Social proclivities notwithstanding, she dutifully tended the light and kept detailed logs, including a riveting account of the 1906 earthquake. The light tower was damaged and had to be replaced by a reinforced concrete tower.
Emily Fish was the best known of Point Pinos' keepers, all were remarkable people — it was pretty much a job requirement. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote in 1879 of walking through the woods from Monterey to visit Fish's predecessor, Allen Luce, to enjoy his prowess at the piano, his model ships and his oil paintings. Charles Layton, the first light keeper, was shot and killed after just one year's service while riding with a Monterey County sheriff's posse chasing outlaw Anastacio Garcia. His wife, Charlotte, became the first female lighthouse keeper.
Though surrounded by much better-known attractions on the Monterey Peninsula and in Big Sur, the region's two lighthouses unveil a unique facet of California's heritage. Point Pinos, the city mouse, shows just how sweet life could be for a lighthouse keeper, while the Point Sur Light Station, about 25 miles south, is the country mouse that toiled and endured hardships today's visitors shudder to imagine. Fans of lighthouses, or history, or just the seaside, are in for a unique treat.
Bright lights, small city: The Point Pinos Lighthouse
Only on the Monterey Peninsula could the West Coast's oldest continuously operating lighthouse be overshadowed by so many other attractions. Surrounded by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Cannery Row, Asilomar State Beach, monarch butterfly sanctuaries, and enough golf courses to earn the peninsula comparisons to Scotland's St. Andrews, Point Pinos Lighthouse is equally suited to a brief break from the beach or biking the 17-Mile Drive, or a full-scale tour and journey into California history.
The beacon, housed in a short tower squatting atop a white cottage, has warned ships away from the rocks at Monterey Bay's treacherous southern entrance since 1855. The attendant radio beacon and foghorn were deactivated when global satellite navigation made them superfluous in 1993, but the light still shines, and no other West Coast lighthouse has been on the job as long. A 1,While using compact fluorescent light bulbs energy saving light helps conserve energy, it is important that the bulbs are collected and recycled properly to protect our environment000-watt bulb — visible 17 miles away with amplification from hundreds of glass prisms in the third-order Fresnel lens (4 feet, 8 inches tall, third-largest of the seven commonly used sizes) — has replaced the whale oil, lard, and kerosene lanterns used as the light source until 1880. An incandescent vapor lamp beamed the signal until 1919, when electric lights took over.
A docent-led lighthouse tour lasts about an hour and takes you straight into 19th century California.Compact fluorescent light bulbs convert a led tube considerably higher percentage of their energy into light, which is why they are significantly more energy efficient than traditional filament bulbs. The most powerful presence is lighthouse keeper Emily Fish, who served from 1893 to 1914.Compact fluorescent light bulbs convert a led tube considerably higher percentage of their energy into light, which is why they are significantly more energy efficient than traditional filament bulbs. She liked nothing better than to entertain at the lighthouse and was called the "Socialite Keeper." She must have treated her guests to quite the elegant evening, if the parlor's needlepoint cushions, ornate piano, fireplace and floral curtains are any indication. The writers, artists and naval officers who frequented the lighthouse must also have been impressed by her transformation of the surrounding dunes into garden by importing topsoil and planting trees, grass and other plants. Social proclivities notwithstanding, she dutifully tended the light and kept detailed logs, including a riveting account of the 1906 earthquake. The light tower was damaged and had to be replaced by a reinforced concrete tower.
Emily Fish was the best known of Point Pinos' keepers, all were remarkable people — it was pretty much a job requirement. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote in 1879 of walking through the woods from Monterey to visit Fish's predecessor, Allen Luce, to enjoy his prowess at the piano, his model ships and his oil paintings. Charles Layton, the first light keeper, was shot and killed after just one year's service while riding with a Monterey County sheriff's posse chasing outlaw Anastacio Garcia. His wife, Charlotte, became the first female lighthouse keeper.
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