Point Conception Light

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File:USCGpointconception1882.JPG Point Conception Light by U.S. Coast Guard Archive
Location	Point Conception California United States
Coordinates
Constructed	1856 (first)
Foundation	stone basement
Construction	stucco, brick and wooden tower
Automated	1973
Height	52 feet (16 m)
Shape	cylindrical tower with lantern behind fog signal building
Markings	white tower, black lantern, greenish lantern roof
Operator	United States Coast Guard
Fog signal	continuous blast every 30s.
Light
First lit	1882 (current)
Focal height	133 feet (41 m)
Lens	First order Fresnel lens Now on display (original), VRB-25 (current)
Range	20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi)
Characteristic	Fl W 30s.
Point Conception Light Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Nearest city	Lompoc, California
Area	29 acres (12 ha)
NRHP reference No.	81000176
Added to NRHP	February 25, 1981

Point Conception Light is a lighthouse in Santa Barbara County, California, on Point Conception at the west entrance of the Santa Barbara Channel, California. One of the earliest California lighthouses, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places on the Gaviota Coast.

History

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Pen & Ink Drawing – U.S. Coast Guard

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Aerial view, 2009

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Point Conception Light main grounds

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Point Conception Light was moved to a bluff 133 feet (41 m) above the Pacific Ocean in 1881.

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Point Conception Light overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo sailed along the California coast in search for glory and gold. On October 18, 1542, he encountered heavy winds upon rounding the Point and was forced to turn back to San Miguel Island where he died. Second-in-command Bartolomé Ferrer took charge and again tried to round the Point but he was also unsuccessful.

The Point was named Punta de la Limpia Concepcion by Sebastián Vizcaíno in 1602, who was the next Spanish sailor to venture the Pacific waters along the California coast after Juan Cabrillo. The 1835 experience of the sailing ship Pilgrim, which was damaged and nearly capsized in a sudden change of weather here, is typical of boaters even today.

It was here at Point Conception in 1856, that the lighthouse was built high on the sandstone cliffs, above the location of the present lighthouse. The first order Fresnel lens and steel tower for the lighthouse were made in France at a cost of $65,068 and was transported around Cape Horn. A report indicates that the lighthouse was severely damaged during the Fort Tejon earthquake of January 9, 1857.

The lighthouse was moved in 1881 because the fog would be less likely to obscure the light, and was rebuilt from the top of the bluff to a mesa halfway down, 133 feet (41 m) above the Pacific Ocean. The light station was automated by the United States Coast Guard in 1973.

The lighthouse was used as the location for the film The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959), and has appeared on two Toad the Wet Sprocket music videos: Come Back Down (Pale) and Walk on the Ocean (Fear).

In recent years Vandenberg Air Force Base restricts access from the northwest, and the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve restricts access from the adjoining land although a few people have reached the lighthouse by hiking west along the narrow rugged public beach several miles from the nearest road during low tide. You are not allowed on private land. Vandenberg Space Force base now has ownership of the land and the lighthouse.

See also

• List of lighthouses in the United States
• Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
• Channel Islands of California

Sources

• Shipwrecks, Smugglers and Maritime Mysteries, by Wheeler & Kallman, 1986

External links

• Inventory of Historic Light Stations - California Lighthouses - Point Conception Light Archived 2006-10-11 at the Wayback Machine