Historical Marker · No. 930
Pigeon Point Lighthouse
Pescadero, San Mateo County · California
Erected by the San Francisco Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 1976
Two plaques flank the tower door, the civil engineers' of 1976 and the state's of 1980, and the state bronze speaks in a present tense that has not held. Two sections of cornice fell from the tower in December 2001, and it has been fenced ever since. In November 2011 the lens came down from the lantern room to the fog signal building next door, to wait out a restoration funded in 2021. The bronze also sends the lens here from Cape Hatteras. Lighthousefriends' history of the station names only the pedestal and clockwork as Cape Hatteras hand-me-downs.
What the plaque says
California Historic Civil Engineering Landmark Pigeon Point Lighthouse 1871 San Francisco Section ASCE 1976 Pigeon Point Lighthouse This brick lighthouse was built to incorporate a French, first order Fresnel lens. Although no longer used, the lens is still operable in the lantern room. Previously the lens had been installed at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. It first flashed over the Pacific in November, 1872 and the lighthouse has served continuously without structural modifications since that time. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 930 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the United States Coast Guard, October 3, 1980,
Where it stands
37.18183, -122.39385 · Directions