San Mateo County coastal landmark gets closer to public opening

For years, plans to restore the iconic lighthouse’s exterior metal elements as well as improvements to the building’s brick walls have been refined, explained Linda Hitchcock, a California State Parks interpreter. And after $9 million was allocated in the state budget earlier this month to start work on the top third of the structure, those plans will finally get a boost, noted Hitchcock, who is looking forward to the day when officials can open the doors of the lighthouse to the thousands of visitors who make the stop off Highway 1 each year.

Situated more than 20 miles south of Half Moon Bay, the iconic lighthouse has drawn more and more visitors, to the point where officials are estimating 400,000 visitors flock to the state historic park each year, said Hitchcock. Home to one of the U.S. Coast Guard’s navigational beacons, the lighthouse stands as a symbol of the region’s ongoing history as a shipping corridor as well as the coast’s vibrant ecosystem, she said.

“This is like a treasure to the state of California,” she said. “It evokes the past, the maritime history of California and so I’m very excited.”

Though the $9 million in state funding is expected to fund one phase of the necessary improvements, Hitchcock acknowledged an additional $9 million will be needed to renovate the portions of the tower’s base, which need to happen before the lighthouse can be fully opened to the public again. She said the California State Parks Foundation had been working to raise funds toward the needed restorations, and has in recent years been able to support small projects such as restoration of the lighthouse’s door and windows.

Together with a lead abatement project in the lighthouse keeper’s office, the smaller projects have allowed officials to start offering tours of the lower portion of the tower, noted Hitchcock.

“It’s kind of sparked some excitement,” she said. “That’s the first time in … 20 years they’ve been able to walk inside there and even look up this tower.”

Joe Rogers, a California State Parks interpreter, said visitors who go on tours of the lighthouse’s base can see where an 80-pound weight would have hung from the top of the tower, where a 2,000-pound, 1,008-piece Fresnel lens was once placed. Handcrafted in Paris, the lens was installed in the Pigeon Point Lighthouse in 1872, the year the structure was completed, and originally put into service in a lighthouse on the East Coast in 1863, noted Rogers.

He said a 2,000-pound clockwork mechanism that would rotate by the weight’s pull was installed just under the 8-foot lens, which reflected light that could be seen up to 22 miles at sea. Hitchcock said the lens was moved out of the lighthouse once the needed renovations were identified, but noted officials hope to move the lens back into the structure if all the work identified for the site takes shape.

In the two months he’s been staffed at the lighthouse, Rogers said visitors ask him daily whether they can go inside the structure, which is currently fenced off. Though many of the lighthouse’s visitors come from Asia and Europe, the landmark remains a destination for Bay Area residents, many of whom remember going inside the lighthouse on visits 20 or 30 years ago, he said.

“We also get people who come back,” he said. “That’s also really, really fun to see.”

As board president of the Coastside State Parks Association, Janet Oulton looked forward to the prospect of doing ceremonial lightings of the lighthouse, which were once an attraction for the celebrations held in honor of the first time the structure was lit Nov. 15, 1872. She said the Coastside State Parks Association, with the support of the Peninsula Open Space Trust, is exploring partnerships and other strategies for raising the additional $7 million that would be needed to complete the renovations, if the work can be done continuously.

Oulton and Hitchcock said the first phase of renovations supported by the $9 million in state funding could begin as early as the summer of 2020 and last for at least a year. If the Coastside State Parks Association is able to secure the funds for the second phase of work, the renovations could be complete in time for the lighthouse’s 150th anniversary, noted Oulton.

Oulton expected more people would be needed to staff the Pigeon Point Light Station park once the renovation work begins, and encouraged those interested in the historic landmark to consider volunteering at the park. Though she acknowledged the many steps ahead before the lighthouse can be opened to the public, Oulton felt the effort would be well worth it.

“The view from the top is absolutely stunning,” she said. “Why keep people down if they can possibly experience what it was like?”

A celebration of the 147th anniversary of the lighthouse will be held 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 16 at Pigeon Point Lighthouse, 210 Pigeon Point Road. Visit coastsidestateparks.org/ppls-anniversary for more information.

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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