Marrowstone-Point

Chris J LeBlanc Photography - Lighthouses

Providing details and historical information of lighthouse pictures taken during my travels

Marrowstone Point Lighthouse

Marrowstone Point, Washington

Location: Located at the northern end of Marrowstone Island in Fort Flagler State Park, across Port Townsend Bay from Port Townsend.

Latitude: N 48.10161

Longitude: W 122.68784

Year Constructed: station established 1888; fog signal built 1918

Tower Height: 28 feet Focal Plane: 28 feet

Square fog signal building, painted white, with a 250 mm lens mounted on a short mast on the top; no lantern

Historical Information:

Location: ADMIRALTY INLET

Station Established: 1882

Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1912

Operational? NO

Automated? YES 1962

Marrowstone Point forms the eastern entrance to Port Townsend Bay, and was first marked by a lens lantern on a pole in 1888, around the time when several such aids were established in the Puget Sound area. A fog bell was added to the station in 1896, and a one-and-a-half-story dwelling was constructed on the point to house the keeper and his family. In 1902, the light was placed on a small, concrete structure.

Shortly after the first keeper took up residence at the station, construction of Fort Flagler commenced on the bluff above. The fort was completed in 1907, and it became the third active fort guarding Admiralty Inlet. Together with the guns at Fort Casey on Admiralty Head and those at Fort Worden near Point Wilson, the batteries at Fort Flagler formed a "Triangle of Fire", to prevent hostile vessels from entering Puget Sound.

Mariners complained that the fog bell at the point was often inaudible, so an experimental Scotch fog gun was tried in 1913, but it too proved inadequate. A small, square cement building outfitted with three large trumpets was put into service in 1918, solving the fog signal problem. The light was eventually mounted on top of the fog signal building.

Though automated in 1962, the station still remains fairly intact. The keeper's dwelling is home to the Marrowstone Marine Field Station, and the short, squat structure housing the lighthouse and fog signal still stands at the water's edge. Fort Flagler is now Fort Flagler State Park and includes a military museum.