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West Point Light Station

Cargo vessels bound for ports on the Pacific Rim from Seattle round a sharp spit of land at the northern end of Elliott Bay. Named West Point by explorer Lt. Charles Wilkes, the point also marks the westernmost point of land within the city of Seattle. The federal government recognized the importance of the point [...]

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Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

The mouth of the Columbia River has been called the “Graveyard of the Pacific” because of the river’s treacherous bar and hundreds of shipwrecks. The lighthouse at Cape Disappointment was built in 1856 to guide sailors to the mouth of the river. A government survey had recommended as early as 1848 that a lighthouse be [...]

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Turn Point Lighthouse and Museum

Ships following Haro Strait on their way to the Strait of Juan de Fuca make a sharp turn at Turn Point in Stuart Island. The government established a lighthouse at the point in 1893, beginning as a lantern and a Daboll fog signal. A small keeper’s house was built just uphill from the lantern tower. [...]

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Point Wilson Lighthouse

Established in 1879, the Point Wilson Lighthouse marks the entrance to Admiralty Inlet, the main route to Puget Sound in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The federal Lighthouse Board, responding to complaints from mariners of persistent fogs, installed a steam fog whistle in the early 1870s. The tower’s lamp first beamed light in late [...]

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Burrows Island Lighthouse

The light at Burrows Island Lighthouse, located on the southwestern end of the island in Rosario Strait, warns of strong eddy and rip tides at the east end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Dennis Shoal and Lawson Reef are nearby. First lit on April 1, 1906, the Daboll trumpet fog signal blew the [...]

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Point Robinson Lighthouse

Enormous cargo vessels traveling north and south through Puget Sound between Seattle and Tacoma make a sharp turn at Point Robinson, located on the eastern tip of Maury Island, which is connected to Vashon Island. Early mariners labeled the area the “fog net,” because fogs often obscured the point, catching inattentive ship masters. A foghorn [...]

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Browns Point Lighthouse

Browns Point marks the north entrance to Commencement Bay and the Port of Tacoma. The government established a post lantern on the point on December 12, 1887, the same day a similar lantern was lit at Point Robinson, north of Browns Point on Maury Island in Puget Sound. Fog was the greatest problem in the [...]

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Skunk Bay Lighthouse

The Skunk Bay Lighthouse near the northern tip of Bainbridge Island is a fully operational lighthouse owned and operated by a private association. It was constructed in 1965 by local maritime author Jim Gibbs based on plans for the Mukilteo Lighthouse. It is not open to the public.

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Point No Point Lighthouse

In May 1841, US Navy Lt. Charles Wilkes, exploring the uncharted waters of Puget Sound for the government, named a spit of land barely visible from the deck of a sailing ship Point No Point. But the early history of the site had little to do with maritime. In 1855, the local S’Klallum, Chimacum and [...]

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North Head Light House

Shipwrecks have claimed hundreds of ships and sailors off the treacherous mouth of the Columbia River. The federal government has several aids to navigation in the area, including the North Head Lighthouse, constructed in 1898 in response to a marked increase in wrecks in the late 19th century. The 65-foot lighthouse was built on solid [...]

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