Ramblings of an Insane Housewife: Point Sur Lighthouse, a piece of the past still lighting the present.

My life is not the same anymore, now I have a child in high school—one that plays school sports throughout the entire school year. I find myself missing the carefree days when our children were younger, when holidays were really holidays and there were no sports practices or homework life had to be scheduled around. But, as someone once said, "There is a season for everything", and my son is enjoying the busy life of a teenager. By the time “Presidents Week” hit in February, I had had enough of sports and school, so I grabbed my family and stole away to nearby Point Sur Lighthouse for the day. This activity was leftover from our “Someday Summer List” (a list of a nearby place we have always wanted to visit, but had never taken the time).

There were a few reasons why we had never visited this lighthouse before. It is a bit of a drive for us, they do not take reservations (it is on a “first-come first-served basis), and during the winter months (November through March) they only have tours on Saturdays and Sundays at 10 AM, and on Wednesdays at 1 PM. It is also a bit of a hike to get to the lighthouse, you park your car at the bottom of the hill, and hike the 360 feet elevation gain to the top. Lastly, did I mention it is a three hour tour? Well, after all it takes to get there; it was nice to know we were given three hours of delightful-lighthouse-history for our time! All of these obstacles put aside, what a wonderful afternoon we spent exploring this beautiful beacon that calls Big Sur Coast its home.

Point Sur Lighthouse is on the rock at the very back right hand corner of the photo.

The lighthouse is located 19 miles South of Rio Road in Carmel, off of Highway One. It was built in that location to protect ships from the challenging navigational hazard Point Sur has presented throughout history.

Above and below: The lighthouse is majestically tucked into the north side of a large volcanic rock, where it has faithfully guarded the coastline since 1889.

Entrance to the Point Sur State Historic Park off of Highway One. (And yes, I wish this was my car in the photo, but it's not!)

To begin the tour, we met our tour guide at this gated entrance. There was a short drive across a portion of private property--to the base of the hill, where we parked are car and began a hike to the lighthouse.

Hiking up to the lighthouse. Yep, I was warmly dressed as "Nanook of the North"!

It was very cold and windy the day we went in February, so dressing in layers and wearing comfortable hiking shoes made the trek more enjoyable. A friend of mine that lives in Carmel said, "Light keepers had to tie down their chickens to prevent them from blowing away!" After visiting the blustery hill the lighthouse sits upon, I believed her tale!

It is a leisure hike, the guide stops about every fifteen feet to share history and information about the lighthouse and the surrounding area.

Some interesting facts I learned from this tour (I'm now quoting from the Point Sur State Historic Park pamphlet), “Each lighthouse, lightship, and lightbuoy has a different characteristic, or flash pattern. The difference may be in the length of the flash, the eclipse between flashes, or the color of the flash.” This is the way ships are able to determine their exact location. The pamphlet goes on to say, “Even today, there is no more reassuring sight to a ship returning from sea than the well-known characteristic of a familiar lighthouse.” The Point Sur Lighthouse flashes light out to the sea every six seconds. In comparison, the Point Pinos Lighthouse located just 27 miles to the north has a simple 3-second on/1-second off signature. Point Sur Lighthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a California State Historic Landmark. It is also on the top ten list for haunted lighthouses in the United States. The station is the only remaining complete lightstation in California. I was impressed to see the lighthouse outer buildings are being beautifully restored to the way they appeared at the turn of the 20th century.

What a fun adventure for the whole family. We enjoyed the tales of our informative guide—from the building of the lighthouse, to past shipwrecks of the vicinity. So, if you are ever in the area, I highly recommend taking the time to see this landmark—one that seems to wink at anyone within sight.

Eastward view from the Head Keeper's Dwelling. How would you like to wake up to this view every morning?

The circular staircase inside the lighthouse.

Prisms in the floor of the lantern room allowed the base of the lantern room to be lit by the Fresnel lens (which was moved to the Allen Knight Maritime Museum of Monterey in 1978).