Pigeon Point Lighthouse Annual Lighting and 135th Anniversary Celebration, Nov. 17

October 17, 2007

Each November, locals and travelers alike gather on the sandy bluffs surrounding the Pigeon Point Lighthouse to take part in a yearly tradition that has been going strong for well over a decade. The annual lighting of the lighthouse’s original first-order Fresnel lens draws thousands of people out to Pigeon Point to commemorate the anniversary of the first lighting 135 years ago. The celebration, instituted by Hostelling International, has become so popular that the California State Parks department now acts as master of ceremonies by inviting the U.S. Coast Guard to fire up the lights, and local community and environmental organizations also come down to take part in the festivities.

The daylong event includes guided tours by State Parks docents, who recount the light station’s rich history while leading visitors among the old buildings and around the grounds. The Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel holds an open house from noon to 8 p.m., encouraging visitors to learn more about the traditions and benefits of hostelling.

New this year are the permanent interpretive display panels in the historic fog signal building, which include carefully rendered models, genuine historical artifacts, detailed maps, and old photographs chronicling the long history of both the lighthouse and the surrounding land. You can also explore the tide pools at the newly reopened Whaler’s Cove Beach, or check out the marine mammal displays presented by Año Nuevo State Reserve.

The celebration culminates from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., when the light station’s automated Aero beacon is switched off, and the Coast Guard lights the original first-order Fresnel lens. Perched in a glass-enclosed room at the top of a 115-foot structure, it was the most powerful lens of the day when the lighthouse was outfitted in 1872. Designed by French physicist Augustine Jean Fresnel, the lens stands 16 feet tall, weighs four tons, and is fitted with 1,008 handcrafted brass-framed prisms and lenses. The fantastic spectacle of 24 beams of light rotating slowly around the tower and piercing the night sky for miles across the sea draws 2,000 to 3,000 spectators annually from miles around.