A section of the Sunday Examiner and Chronicle SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER * * Sunday, March 3, 1996 1-3 WEEKEND ESCAPES Point Pinos still signals ships

Pacific Grove preservationists aid historic beacon By Judy Hammond SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE Now restored, PACIFIC GROVE — The beacon atop the Point Pi- the lighthouse at nos Lighthouse flashed through the recent over- Point Pinos near cast, signaling a warning to ship- ping off the rocky coast, just as it has done for the past 140 years. Monterey looks coastline. There Emily was served The lighthouse looks pretty breakfast by her Chinese servant): much like it did more than a centu- much like it did while she worked at her logbooks . ry ago. The light, automated in Known as the socialite light, 1975, is cast by the same Fresnel when it was con- keeper, Emily frequently gave tea lens that was manufactured in and parties in the lighthouse build France in 1853 and installed in structed more ing, Eljenholm said. 1855. After 21 years, Emily retire, Inside the Cape Cod-style build- than a century from her lighthouse duties in 191 ing, newly refurbished and redeco- She bought a home on Sines Ave rated rooms bring back the homey nue in Pacific Grove. She died in look of the lighthouse between ago 1931 at the age of 88. ROBERT FISH / MONTEREY COUNTY HERALD 1893 and 1914, when Emily Fish Vern Yadon, director and cura- was the light keeper. Monterey area took on the light- an outlaw. His widow, Charlotte, tor of the Pacific Grove Museum 0f The lighthouse is now open to house project at the suggestion of succeeded him, and in 1860 she Natural History for 35 years until the public on Thursdays, Satur- Shirley Eljenholm of Pebble "We're restoring it to the time she was married George Harris, the third his retirement in 1992, was always days, Sundays and most major hol- Beach, who proposed it in 1993 here and furnishing it in the light keeper. on a constant search for authentic idays, from 1 to 4 p.m. Newly when she was president. Robert Louis Stevenson was lighthouse furniture, and often had trained docents, dressed in period "It was my dream that we do turn-of-the-century period." Future said to have visited the next light to bargain for the valuable pieces, costume, tell the lighthouse histo- something here," Eljenholm said. keeper, Allen Luce, in 1879 on a he said The lighthouse has been ry. Admission is free. With $5,700 from the projects are the kitchen-dining room walk through the woods from open to the public since the 1960s. They join a group of docents State Questers, the living room was downstairs and an upstairs room that will Monterey. He praised Luce's hos- Yadon said and, frequently, octogenarian guide redone and work was started on pitality, piano playing, ship models "It's always gratifying for people Bruce Handy of Pebble Beach, a Emily Fish's bedroom upstairs, feature the Coast Guard, focusing on and oil paintings. Luce retired after who come to look at a building In longtime mariner, who for the last both done to reflect the Victorian World War II years. 20 years, and his replacement, see some of the flavor of it," he said 12 years has regaled visitors with era when she lived there. Emily Fish, brought her own style of the renovation. stories of the lighthouse. 'We're restoring it to the time to the lighthouse. Bernie Ferrara, office manage The city and the Pacific Grove she was here and furnishing it in — Merrill Leslie of Carmel, A world traveler and socialite, of the Museum of Natural History Museum of Natural History oper- the turn-of-the-century period," vice president of the Questers Emily Fish was a 50-year-old wid- said the lighthouse is well visited, ate the said Merrill Leslie of Cannel, vice ow when she took the lighthouse by tourists and lighthouse buffs. through an agreement with the president of the Questers, who has job in 1893. A glimpse of her log- "From all over the world people Coast Guard, which maintains the redone several local Victorian plaque that shows the lighthouse is two years later eight beacons were book, a copy of which is in the come to Point Pinos — they're building and the light. homes and Cannel cottages. on the National Register of Histor- ordered to be built. The Point Pi- lighthouse, describes weather con- interested in ," said Refurbishing the old lighthouse, Future projects are the kitchen- ic Places. nos Lighthouse began sending its ditions, ships in trouble, the 1906 Handy, the former mariner an. for many years occupied by gov- dining room downstairs and an up- signal on Feb. 1, 1855. San Francisco earthquake, which guide. ernment light keepers, is a project stairs room that will feature the Point Pinos (Point of Pines in damaged the lighthouse, and the The Point Pinos Lighthouse of the Questers, an international Coast Guard, focusing on World Spanish) was given its name in The first light keeper was Chinatown fire in Pacific Grove located near the intersection 0, group devoted to the study of an- War II years. Kent Seavey of Pa- 1602 by the Spanish explorer Se- Charles Layton, who died before he the same year. Asilomar Boulevard and Light tiques and the restoration and cific Grove is researching that proj- bastian Viscaino. In 1850, Con- could see the light in operation. He On the second floor of the light- house Avenue in Pacific Grove preservation of historic buildings. ect. gress appropriated funds to build was killed in 1855 while a member house is the tiny watch room, with Admission is free. For more info:- The Adobe Questers of the The Questers also obtained the lighthouses on the West Coast and of a sheriff's posse that was chasing a window overlooking the rocky motion call (408) 648-3116.