Historical Marker · No. 951
Battery Point Lighthouse
Crescent City, Del Norte County · California
Erected by State Department of Parks and Recreation; Del Norte County Historical Society, 1987
The bronze closes the lighthouse's story in 1953 with its last keeper, Wayne Piland, whom the state register misspells Philand. Its best-remembered night came later. Near midnight on March 27, 1964, waves from the Alaska earthquake reached Crescent City. Peggy and Roxey Coons, living in the lighthouse as curators, watched the fourth wave draw the harbor dry for three-quarters of a mile before it came back through the town. Eleven people died. The lighthouse, on its tidal island, was not harmed.
What the plaque says
Battery Point Lighthouse The Battery Point Lighthouse is one of the first lighthouses on the California coast. Rugged mountains and unbridged rivers meant coastal travel was essential for the economic survival of this region. In 1855 Congress appropriated $15,000 for the construction of the light station, which was completed in 1856 by the U.S. Lighthouse Service. Theophilis Magruder was the station's first keeper; Wayne Piland was its last before automation in 1953. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 951 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Del Norte County Historical Society, September 19, 1987.
Where it stands
41.74419, -124.20307 · Directions
More markers nearby
- S.S. Emidio — 0.6 mi
- Brother Jonathan Cemetery — 0.7 mi
- Site of Old Indian Village at Pebble Beach, Crescent City — 1.3 mi
- Crescent City Plank and Turnpike Road — 5.1 mi