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Point Wilson Lighthouse « Previous | Home | Next »

This foggy morning was appealing, but made the lighthouse very washed out and colorless. I hoped to capture the receding detail on the back part of the house which was affected too.

Point Wilson Lighthouse, built in 1913, is in Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, Washington (state). The Point Wilson Lighthouse, presently a US Coast Guard lighthouse has been open to the public on a limited basis for only a few years. No longer considered essential for aiding navigation, the Coast Guard is in the process of transferring the lighthouse to Fort Worden State Park. Point Wilson marks the west entrance into the Puget Sound and to Seattle. It is the turning point from the Strait of Juan de Fuca which leads to the Pacific ocean.

First established in 1879, the light was originally on top of the lighthouse keeper's house. The name of the light and the point it stands on comes from Captain George Vancouver, who first sighted the point in May of 1792. In 1913 the present distinctive structure was built. The fixed white light with a red flash every 20 seconds comes from a 1000 watt bulb through a rotating fourth-order Fresnel lens. The light has a range of sixteen miles.

Posted by Don Wiley on November 12th, 2006
Archived under: Washington (state) Coast/Puget Sound