Oregon Lighthouses

The Oregon coast is not only rugged and beautiful, but it has several wonderful old lighthouses. Most of them were built in the late 1800s as shipping increased along the coast due to logging and gold mining. They were originally staffed by a crew of lighthouse keepers (and their families) who worked and lived in isolated, harsh conditions. The lamps burned mineral oil for fuel and needed to be trimmed and wound and cleaned and polished frequently. The fuel had to be hauled up winding staircases every few hours all night long. It was demanding work, but many keepers stayed for years, so it must have been rewarding. Gradually the lights became more sophisticated and in the 1930s, most were converted to electric light bulbs. In the 1960s they were fully automated making lighthouse keepers obsolete. Some lighthouses were even abandoned and fell into ruin.

But now, thank goodness, several of them have been restored and are open for tours. At the Umpqua River Lighthouse (above) you can take a tour up to the very top for only $3.00. It is the only Oregon coast lighthouse with a red flash in its sequence, so it has beautiful cranberry colored sections in its Fresnel lens. These Fresnel lenses were manufactured in Paris over 100 years ago and the guide claims that there is no way to get replacement parts anymore, so each lens is priceless.

The lens sections are actually prisms that focus the light into a beam that can be seen for miles. The entire lens assemble rotates around the bulb creating its distinctive sequence. These sequences are marked on nautical charts so mariners can distinguish each light along the coast. If you click on the link you can see the Umpqua Lighthouse just to right of center, near the tail of the North arrow. It says the light is alternating, two white, one red, every 15 seconds, 165' tall, visible 20 miles.

We didn't visit this one at Cape Arago because it's not open to the public, but we saw it from an overlook along Highway 101.

This is the Coquille River Lighthouse near Bandon. It is open for tours too.

At Cape Blanco Lighthouse the tour guide showed us these beautifully polished containers that were used to measure and carry the fuel up to the lamp via the cast iron stairs. These lighthouse keepers must have been exceptionally fit climbing those stairs several times a day.

If you are ever in Oregon do try to visit a lighthouse. It's an affordable day out and a wonderful peek into nautical history.