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Our Mission The mission of California State Parks is to provide for the health, inspiration and Point Sur education of the people of California by helping ince 1889, the to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological S State Historic Park diversity, protecting its most valued natural and Point Sur Lighthouse cultural resources, and creating opportunities for high-quality outdoor recreation. beacon has warned sailors away from the craggy shores of the foggy Pacific Ocean. California State Parks supports equal access. Prior to arrival, visitors with disabilities who need assistance should contact the park at (831) 625-4419. If you need this publication in an alternate format, contact [email protected]. CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS P.O. Box 942896 Sacramento, CA 94296-0001 For information call: (800) 777-0369 (916) 653-6995, outside the U.S. 711, TTY relay service www.parks.ca.gov Point Sur State Historic Park Highway 1, 19 miles south of Carmel Big Sur, CA 93920 (831) 625-4419 Inside panel image courtesy of Barbara Taylor, NOAA © 2016 California State Parks H igh above the Pacific Ocean, the Rancho and Farming Periods Point Sur Lighthouse in Big Sur has Mexico declared independence from provided mariners with a navigation Spain in 1821, and California became beacon since 1889. This late 19th-century part of Mexico. In 1834 the Governor light station has remained in continuous of Mexican California granted Juan operation since that time. Bautista Alvarado land adjacent to The weather at Point Sur combines Point Sur, creating El Sur Rancho. moderate temperatures between 50 and The large land grant was owned 75 degrees with frequent whipping winds and leased by successive ranching and summer fog. families. The seaside meadows were Keepers wrestled the occasional fallen boulder. Photo courtesy of Wayne Piland Photo courtesy of Wayne used for grazing cattle. In the 1920s, PARK HISTORY natural course-change point for ships tenant farmers tried growing crops such as traveling the coast. Although the land at Native People and European Explorers artichokes. Parts of the Rancho El Sur grant, Point Sur was reserved for a lighthouse in The Big Sur area was home to the Esselen including the private land directly below 1866, Congress did not provide funding and later the Rumsien native people. Point Sur Lighthouse, are still used for for the lighthouse for almost 20 years. Today’s descendants of the surviving cattle. The rock was called Moro Rock until Hidden rocks, uncertain currents, and Esselen and Rumsien people revere and 1851, when it was renamed Point Sur. perpetuate their cultural heritage. fog made the waters off Point Sur hard Point Sur was first mentioned in the logs Building the Lighthouse to navigate. The shipwreck of the coastal of Portuguese explorer Juan Cabrillo in After California joined the United States in steamer Ventura in 1875, north of Point 1542. Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaíno’s 1850, Congress ordered a survey of the Sur, resulted in Congress finally funding 1602 map called it a “point that state’s unexplored coast to identify sites for construction of the lighthouse in 1887. appears as a lighthouses and other aids to navigation. Building a road to the top of the rock small island.” Point Sur was a natural location for a was cost-prohibitive, so after blasting lighthouse — on a huge, exposed rock off the top to provide level places for barely attached to the mainland, at a buildings, workers built a hoist railway. The railway, powered by a coal-fueled, the lighthouse itself received electricity via point’s south side was constructed in 1915 donkey-steam engine, ran up the rock’s generator in 1925, the keepers’ quarters did to help unload supplies from tenders. east face and out to the lighthouse site. not have generators until 1939. Power from After Highway 1 was completed from The light first shone on August 1, 1889. the electrical grid was not supplied to Point Carmel to San Simeon in 1937, supplies Sur until 1949. were delivered to Point Sur via truck, a Family Life safer and more cost-effective system. The light station buildings and keepers’ Getting Supplies homes were built of local sandstone and Most supplies, except locally obtained School Days redwood. The light station housed up meat and vegetables, came via lighthouse Until 1927, children at Point Sur would stay to four lightkeepers and their families tender boats that anchored offshore, out of with nearby ranch families during the week, at a time. To leave Point Sur in the early the kelp beds and the dangerous, shallow going home on weekends. In 1927, head years, residents rocky shoals. From keeper William Mollering requested that had to climb the tender, supplies the school district provide a teacher at the down nearly 400 were transferred to light station. Six students were required to stairs adjacent smaller whale boats meet the quota to have a teacher. One or to the railway, and brought to the two lighthouse children received “revised” cross the sand light station. birthdates, and the quota was met. The flats, and trek The tender teachers, unmarried and young, lived with several miles often brought the the head keeper’s family. They held classes to the county dreaded lighthouse in a shed behind the dwelling. Later, a one- road. Use of the inspector, who room schoolhouse was built near the point hoist railway inspected both off Highway 1. was restricted to the lighthouse moving supplies. and the keepers’ Technology – Fresnel Lens The Point Sur light station originally The light Keepers with family and friends, ca. 1914 living quarters for station was an cleanliness and contained a first-order (the largest size) isolated post for the keepers and their general shipshape conditions. Fresnel lens. Invented by French engineer families. A stagecoach came to Big Sur The original hoist railway could not Augustin Jean Fresnel, the complex Fresnel from Monterey twice a week with mail. withstand the harsh elements at Point Sur, lens revolutionized lighthouse technology The keepers often kept a horse and and upkeep was constant. Construction on worldwide by making the light visible for wagon to retrieve mail from Pfeiffer’s the “too expensive” road to the top of the longer distances. Resort (now Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park). rock was begun in 1900. A local crew used Concentric rings of glass prisms and a Each family was allotted a garden area to dynamite and hand tools: picks, shovels, round bullseye lens bend the light into grow vegetables. and wheelbarrows. The road was completed a concentrated narrow beam that can be Point Sur’s lightkeeper families waited in 1901 and widened in 1936. Another hoist seen from 23 miles at sea. many years for electrical power. While railway from the rock top to a dock on the Point Sur’s Fresnel lens was replaced in 1972 by a rotating aero-beacon light mounted on the fog signal room’s roof. Fog Signals centralized in another location. Most The disused Fresnel lens remained in Until the 1970s, Point Sur also had a fog of the naval facility was donated to the lighthouse tower until 1978, when signal. The original signal was made by California State Parks in 2000. volunteers disassembled and transported twin steam whistles. Steam was produced State Historic Park it to Monterey for display. The aero-beacon by a boiler using wood for fuel. Over the was later moved into the light tower to years, the steam whistles were replaced Point Sur light station is unique, having all protect it from the wind. Light from today’s by air horns. The fog signal of its original buildings intact, including aero-beacon is visible for 23 nautical miles. was used whenever the Assistant Keepers’ Quarters, the fog reduced visibility largest light station building in the Lighthouse Signal Characteristics offshore. Fog signals West. The light station complex is Every lighthouse has a different also had individual listed on the National Register of “Super Tyfon” characteristic or flash pattern. Ships are sound patterns. Historic Places, and it has been a able to determine their exact location 1972 double state historic park since 1986. The light fog signal­ by triangulation, using bearings for two The Coast station is being restored by a coalition or more known points to determine the Guard Years of State Parks staff, volunteers, and position of the ship. No more reassuring The U.S. Coast Guard members of the Central Coast sight greets a ship at sea than a lighthouse. replaced the U.S. Lighthouse Keepers Point Sur’s light is still in use — a low-tech Lighthouse Service in 1939 cooperating association. backup to high-tech satellite navigation. and renovated lighthouse Guided tours are given by trained volunteers who love to Photo courtesy of Bruce Robie buildings. The Coast Guard donated most of share the stories, romance, and the buildings to California mystery of Point Sur. State Parks in 1984. The lighthouse was NATURAL RESOURCES classified part of the historic park in 2006. Harsh wind conditions dictate that only Point Sur Naval Facility the most rugged plants and animals During World War II, naval personnel live at the park. The Point Sur parcel stationed at Point Sur conducted encompasses rocky headland, sandy experiments with early sonar and radar beaches and dunes, and a marine terrace systems. As World War II ended, the Cold near the ocean. The park hosts a variety War began. In 1958, the Navy built a Naval of bird species migrating on the Pacific Facility (NAVFAC) ½ mile from Point Sur, to Flyway path. White-crowned sparrows and provide top-secret submarine surveillance western gulls nest in rock crevices.

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