Point
Arena has had a lighthouse for almost 150 years. The main feature, a
First Order Fresnel Lens, used to burn at the top of the 115’ tower casting its
signature double flash every six seconds, and could be seen for over twenty
miles. At greater than six feet in diameter and weighing over five tons,
the lens is of the third largest category of eleven different Fresnel lens
sizes used for lighthouses.
Today
the lens can be seen as the centerpiece of the Point Arena Lighthouse museum,
located in the Fog Signal Building just west of the 1908 light station
tower. A modern rotating light, with a lens weighing a mere forty
pounds, now acts as the permanent beacon and reaches to a distance of over 16
miles.
As for
the light station, the mighty crown that once housed the giant lens still
remains, capping the slender body of the tower as it rises skyward to peer out
over the slowly decaying bluffs. Nature’s onslaught continues, the
relics of her disasters lying below the surface of the water only a few hundred
yards away. Today the tower remains watchful over the great Pacific,
and over the history of our northern coastline, as a symbol of many things to
many people: a warning, a home, a marker of history, of duty
served. The Point Arena Lighthouse also has the distinction of still
being operational, a fact no doubt perplexing to some in this age of satellite
tracking and GPS navigation. Ships pass by at a much greater
distance than in times past. There hasn’t been a ship lost on Point
Arena’s shelves since 1962.
Despite
being known for their historical practicality, what strikes me most immediately
about lighthouses is how modern they look. For a structure designed
thousands of years ago there remains something about the design that I find
timeless. The crowning glory of the lighthouse – the lantern room –
reflects a particular anomaly on the dated architectural landscape of the
past. Perhaps it’s the tall, solid glass panels highlighting the top
of a bold and impressive tower. Like a great chess piece, the lighthouse stands
as an icon of mankind’s strategy against the forces of the mighty ocean, an
opponent armed with the full power of nature.
The sea
hasn’t changed much in thousands of years, except perhaps to grow just a little more
dangerous, a little easier to take for granted amid our pride in technological
marvels. The lighthouse remains as a symbol to remind us that the
sea shall not be taken for granted. The sea which is deep and cold
and powerful. Thus the lighthouse remains as a guardian as much against
human complacence as it does against the more practical follies of our
judgment.
