East Brother Light Station

When the Coast Guard automated the light in 1969 it no longer needed the keeper's house, and the 1971 National Register listing is what kept the station from being cleared for a light on a tower. In 1979 volunteers formed a nonprofit, restored the Victorian buildings and opened them the next year as an inn; overnight guests still come out by boat from Point San Pablo, and what they pay keeps the station standing on a Coast Guard lease. The Native Sons' bronze casts the Preservation Act as the Presentation Act. No state plaque stands on the island.

What the plaque says

East Brother Light Station Constructed in 1873-74, East Brother Light Station is the older of only two remaining light stations of San Francisco Bay that have remained substantially unchanged. The original 5th order classical (Fresnel) lens was replaced with the present beacon when the station was automated in 1969 after 95 years of operation by keepers of the U.S. Lighthouse Service and later the U.S. Coast Guard. In 1971 East Brother Light Station was entered on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1980, after ten years of benign neglect, rehabilitation was begun with the assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard, a matching grant from the Department of the Interior Heritage Conservation and Recreation Services under the provisions of the National Historic Presentation Act of 1966, the California State Office of Historic Preservation, and the efforts of hundreds of individuals who generously contributed their labor and resources to preserve this landmark for the enjoyment and benefit of the public. Dedicated to the brave and faithful men and women of the U.S. Lighthouse Service and the U.S. Coast Guard. Dedicated by the Native Sons of the Golden West James M. Smith - Grand President October 26, 1980 In memory of U.S. Senator James D. Phelan

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Muir Woods National Monument — 9.0 mi
  A redwood canyon saved from a reservoir by a gift, and named for a man who had been there once.
• Muir Beach Overlook — 11 mi
  A cliff edge on Highway 1, and the concrete dugouts where two-man crews watched the sea after Pearl Harbor.
• Earthquake Trail — 20 mi
  A short loop along the San Andreas, where a broken fence shows how far Point Reyes moved in under a minute in 1906.
• Kule Loklo — 21 mi
  A Coast Miwok village built in the 1970s to honour a people its builders were told had died out. They had not.

More markers nearby

• China Camp — 3.1 mi
• Green Brae Brick Kiln — 4.1 mi
• Site of Giant Powder Company (Point Pinole) — 4.6 mi
• Richmond Shipyards District — 4.9 mi