Annual Lighting and Celebration at Pigeon Point Lighthouse

Posted by admin on Oct 29, 2008

Each November, thousands of visitors gather to witness the annual lighting of the original first-order Fresnel lens at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse, and to celebrate the anniversary of the first lighting more than 130 years ago.

The annual celebration, instituted by Hostelling International more than a decade ago, has become so popular that the California State Parks department now acts as master of ceremonies by inviting the U.S. Coast Guard to switch the lights, and local community and environmental organizations participate as well.

The daylong festivities include 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 12-6 p.m., encouraging visitors to learn more about the traditions and benefits of hostelling. Historical exhibits and interpretive displays are hosted in the hostel’s fog signal building and point deck, courtesy of the California State Parks, National Marine Sanctuaries, Friends of California State Parks, and Ano Nuevo State Reserve. The day is rounded out by an Elephant Seal Puppet Show, provided by the Pigeon Point Environmental Education Program.

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 every year.