Point Sur Light

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Point Sur Light in 2001 - 37th trip

Big Sur, California

Built: 1889

Automated: 1972

This 40 foot granite tower, with adjoining rooms originally used for fuel storage and steam whistle boilers, stands on magnificient Point Sur, located about half way up the California coast, south of San Francisco and Monterey Bay. Originally equipped with a first-order Fresnel lens, it now houses two rotating aero beacons. Point Sur is the location of the crash of the Navy dirigible Macon when it was struck by a squall in 1935. Keeper Thomas Henderson was watching the ship through binoculars when it crashed. Today, the Point Sur station remains much like it was when first built, with most of the outbuildings still intact, which are owned by the California State Parks.

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Lighthouses: A Photographic Journey

Conceived and Developed by David S. Carter

Photographs by Donald W. Carter

Text by Diana K. Carter, Donald W. Carter & David S. Carter

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This article was last modified on 6/4/2009.