Icon on the Sound, West Point Lighthouse
The West Point Light has guided mariners in and out of Seattle since 1881. This small but stately beacon sits on a low sandy point at the northern entrance of Elliott Bay, overlooking the busiest vessel traffic in Washington…
Beacon Background:Patos Island Lighthouse
Patos Island Lighthouse, 1915. Photo courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard. Boaters venturing north beyond the bustle of Friday Harbor, Roche Harbor, Deer Harbor, and other popular destinations in the San Juan archipelago will find a…
Bewitching Beacons of the Northwest Coast
Why do so many lighthouses inspire ghost stories? Often when I mention a beacon – particularly a coastal one – someone informs me that it’s haunted. “There’s a good ghost story at that lighthouse” offered a friend and…
Grays Harbor Lighthouse:The Tallest of them All
Grays Harbor Lighthouse, 1959. Photo courtesy of Washington State Archives. This beacon might be the most remarkable in Washington. Part of a chain of lighthouses spanning the Washington coast, it is the state’s tallest,…
Beacon Background:
Sentinels of San Juan Island
San Juan Island offers two distinctive beacons in two unique settings. Both reflect the ongoing story of mariners in the Salish Sea. When you are cruising in the area this summer, they are worth checking out by water and by…
Beacon Background: Point Wilson Lighthouse
The Point Wilson Lighthouse in 1960. Photo courtesy of Washington State Archives. It is hard to imagine a more scenic location for a lighthouse than Point Wilson. Marking the convergence of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and…