Many lighthouses on America’s coasts and islands are at least 100 feet tall. The Cape Hatteras lighthouse in the Outer Banks of North Carolina tops out at 210 feet tall. However, that isn’t the case for all lighthouses. In San Diego, the historic Old Point Loma Lighthouse at California’s Cabrillo National Monument is shorter. Because of the sheer height of the cliff on which it’s perched, 19th-century architects didn’t design a tall building.
Elevated over San Diego Bay is a rugged precipice called Point Loma, meaning “hill point” in Spanish. It’s there—422 feet above sea level—that the lighthouse was completed in 1855.
For 36 years, the lighthouse guided ships with its Third-Order Fresnel lens, which was invented in 1822. A marvel of engineering, the Fresnel lens was constructed of hundreds of pieces of handmade glass. These were carefully secured around a lamp using sperm whale oil. Old Point Loma’s Fresnel lens weighed around 2,000 pounds, was about 5 feet tall, and could be seen by ships at least 18 to 24 miles away on the Pacific Ocean. Some argue that the light was visible from as far away as 30 miles.
The white-washed brick Old Point Loma Lighthouse stands just 46 feet tall and consists of two floors connected by a spiral staircase. The tower houses the light and the open gallery with a wrought iron railing, which are positioned directly in the middle of the structure.
While most lighthouse keepers, alone or with a family, resided in a separate home situated near a lighthouse, the Old Point Loma building is unique because it was both residence and working lighthouse. The Cape-Cod-style lighthouse has four rooms: a parlor across from a kitchen-and-dining room on the first floor, and two bedrooms on the second floor—one for the keeper and his wife and the other for the children.
The house now serves as a museum to convey to visitors the furnishings and accoutrements typical of mid-to-late 19th-century living. Above the fireplace mantel in the parlor is a distinct frame made of shells. Maria Israel, wife to Robert Israel, who served for two decades as the lighthouse’s keeper, made the elaborate frames and sold them to supplement the family’s income.
The family kept a meticulous garden, which visitors can walk through. Volunteers continue to grow some of the same vegetables and herbs cultivated by the keeper’s family, including potatoes, tomatoes, beets, oregano, and thyme.
End of an Era
The lighthouse’s light was extinguished in 1891 due to challenges associated with its location high atop the Point Loma cliff; low clouds and fog were often so thick they obscured the light. The current lighthouse was built in 1891, farther from the cliff and closer to the water’s edge. It was automated in the 1970s.In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson made certain the old lighthouse became part of the Cabrillo National Monument, which now falls under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service.
Before it became a preserved historic landmark and opened to the public, the Old Point Loma Lighthouse’s last official practical use was as a Navy signal tower during World War II.
As a displayed quote by playwright George Bernard Shaw at the lighthouse states: “I can think of no other edifice constructed by man as altruistic as a lighthouse. They were built only to serve.”
Even though the historic lighthouse no longer guides ships like it did in the latter part of the 19th century, it looms as a distinguished sentry on Point Loma. From the steps of the lighthouse and beyond the wild cliff foliage surrounding it, visitors can clearly view boats and ships approaching and leaving the bustling city of San Diego.
