Point No Point Lighthouse

Photo by:  Cherri

Bruce and I took a tour of the Juan de Fuca Strait on the Olympic Pennisula searching for photos of other Washington Lighthouses.  The first one we came to was Point No Point Lighthouse on the west side of Puget Sound, near the point where Admiralty Inlet ends, near the small town of Hansville, Washington. Point No Point Light is the oldest lighthouse on Puget Sound.

Photo by:  Cherri

It is located on a low finger of land that the local Native American tribes had given the name Hahd-skus, meaning long nose.  The Point No Point Treaty was signed on the spit in 1855 by Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens and the leaders of Chimacum, Skokomish and S'Klallam tribes, ending the Indian wars.   Here is a photo of the plaque commemorating this treaty.  

Local residents wanted the lighthouse located further north on Foulweather Bluff. When the Point No Point location was agreed upon, the owners of the land were reluctant to sell. Finally, the owners agreed to sell 40 acres for $1000. Construction of the lighthouse began in April 1879. The first light used was a kerosene lamp. As 1879 drew to a close, the lens and a glass for the lantern had not arrived, so the first lighthouse keeper J.S. Maggs, a Seattle dentist, hung a canvas over the south window openings to break the wind and keep the kerosene lamp from blowing out.  The lighthouse has been in continuous operation since that time in December 1879.

Upon completion of the light station in February 1880, the lantern room held a fifth-order Fresnel Lens. The original masonry structure was 27 feet high. The present 30-foot brick and stucco tower is square and situated between the office and fog signal building. A fog signal, formerly used at New Dungeness Lighthouse was installed in April 1880. 

There were no roads to the Point No Point Lighthouse for the first 40 years, so supplies had to be brought in by boat.  J.S. Maggs wife arrived at the station when it was completed in February and was pregnant at the time.  A cow was ordered to supply milk for the expected baby.  The bovine arrived by schooner, was lowered over the vessel's side using a sling, and then swam ashore.  The first baby born at the station was a girl, in July of 1880. 

The point itself was named by U.S. Navy Lt. Charles Wilkes, who commanded the United States Exploring Expedition in 1841. As he approached the spit of land, he thought it was a substantial point. When he realized it was much smaller than he expected, he named it Point No Point.

Lightning struck the lens in 1931, cracking a prism. The tower was also damaged which required patching and replacing the copper tubing.

In 1975, a 90-foot radar tower was built on the west side of the lighthouse. The tower is used for the Vessel Traffic Safety. In 1977, the Point No Point Lighthouse became fully automated, and only required one man to be assigned to the station. In 1990, the fog bell was replaced by a Daboll trumpet. The lens in the tower was changed to a fourth-order Fresnel Lens, which is still in place today.

Lighthouse Keeper's House

Photo by:  Cherri

Beach in front of Lighthouse Keeper's House

Photo by:  Cherri

In 1997, the last U.S. Coast Guard personnel left Point No Point and it stood empty until the Coast Guard leased the property for Kitsap County Parks and Recreation.  Today, the lighthouse keepers house is used as a vacation rental.  For more information on renting this facility, click on the following link:  http://www.uslhs.org/vacation_rental.php

There are some really cool photos on this link of the lighthouse at dusk, with a ship directly behind the lighthouse and of an eagle sitting on a flagpole.  It also shows view of the inside of the keeper's house.