The Oldest West Coast Lighthouse - West Point Pinos

The West Point Pinos Lighthouse, the eldest continuously operational lighthouse on the West Coast, has stood tall on the fringe of Monterey Bay since 1855. Its first light source was whale oil, gradually replaced by lard oil, kerosene, an incandescent vapor lamp, and finally electric lights in 1919. All that remains from the early days is a third-order Fresnel lens, crafted in France in 1853. The surroundings, though, have morphed dramatically over the years.

Lighthouse Avenue, laid out in 1874, was once a supply route to the lighthouse from the port at Monterey, but now it's popular as part of the Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Links. The West Point Pinos Lighthouse is one of the last original structures from the 2,667-acre (1,079 ha) Rancho Punta de Pinos, a Mexican land grant bestowed upon José María Armenta in 1833 and José Abrego in 1844. Even Robert Louis Stevenson paid it a visit in 1879 and penned about it in his book, From Scotland to Silverado.

Today, it's listed on the National Register of Historic Places and a guiding light for those who appreciate the past as much as the present. The light is a 200 Watt LED bulb, visible up to 15 nautical miles on a clear day, with a straightforward 4-second cycle signature of on/3-seconds, and off/1-second. But things weren't always the same. Before automation in 1975, a small battery-operated back-up strobe light was installed outside the tower, and the main light was lit for an hour prior to sunset and extinguished for an hour after sunrise.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons