Saving Sailors for 126 Years
Saving Sailors for 126 Years

Saving Sailors for 126 Years

Saving Sailors for 126 Years

Keeper of the light…
A late afternoon view of this pretty little light house on Maury Island (connected to Vashon Island by the thinnest of necks) is a classic. Built in 1885, originally as a fog horn station, the twelve inch steam whistle (or horn) and boiler came from Oregon’s Point Adams Light at the mouth of the Columbia River. This 126 year old horn is still part of the lighthouse today, but the sound emitted these days during the fog is from a new one. The gallery and lightroom still stand proudly atop the forty foot tall octagonal tower built in 1915 replacing a wooden tower that had been built in 1887. The fifth generation Fresnel lens casts its beacon of safety for twelve miles, on for three seconds and off for one. The lighthouse at Alki Point in West Seattle is identical to this one at Point Robinson. Point Robinson was automated in 1978, and Alki Point in 1984.

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38 Comments

  1. Nice shot, Madge. Its a shame that automation took over the job of the lighthouse keepers. It was one of those jobs when I was in the Coast Guard you dreamed of having. In the mid 80s I helped closed one of the last manned lighthouse here in Connecticut. Another way of life gone to our memories.

  2. Kay

    Beautiful shot — looks like a perfect day for a lighthouse portrait. Wouldn’t it be fun to get to all the WA lighthouses? But they’re not all very easily reached. New Dungeness Lighthouse is a five-mile trek (each way!) on a sandy beach if you don’t get there by boat and the one at Neah Bay is on Tatoosh Island.

  3. I would like to have the time and energy to visit the lighhouses in Washington and Oregon. Thanks for sharing the information and great photo. The contract between the red roof and the beautiful blue sky really make the lighthouse stand out.

    Jim

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