Point-Wilson

Chris J LeBlanc Photography - Lighthouses

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

Point Wilson Lighthouse

Point Wilson, Washington

Location: Located two miles north of Port Townsend in Fort Worden State Park.

Latitude: N 48.14421

Longitude: W 122.75473

Year Constructed: 1914. Active

Tower Height: 49 feet Focal Plane: 51 feet

Brick tower with lantern and gallery, rising from 1-story brick fog signal building. The original 4th order Fresnel lens (1879, transferred from the earlier tower) continues in use. Lighthouse painted white, lantern and trim gray, roofs red.

Historical Information:

Location: ENTRANCE TO ADMIRALTY INLET/PUGET SOUND

Station Established: 1879

Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1914

Operational? YES

Automated? YES 1977

Foundation Materials: CONCRETE

Construction Materials: MASONRY/CONCRETE

Tower Shape: OCTAGONAL ON FOG SIGNAL BUILDING

Markings/Pattern: WHITE W/RED ROOF

Original Lens: FOURTH ORDER, FRESNEL 1879

Point Wilson marks the west entrance into the Puget Sound. It is the turning point from the Strait of Juan de Fuca into Admiralty Inlet. The turn was first marked by a church bell. Recognizing that the point was often shrouded by fog, in 1865, Captain J.W. Sheldon donated a ship's bell to the St. Paul's Episcopal Church in the town of Port Townsend with the condition the bell be rung on foggy days.

Eventually, a light station was built at Point Wilson, two miles northwest of Port Townsend. The original light was a 46-foot frame tower rising from the keeper's dwelling with a fog signal building nearby. It first shown its light on December 15, 1879. By 1904 much of the beach had eroded and threatened the tower.

The current lighthouse was built in 1914, and the original lighthouse continued as the keepers' dwelling minus its tower. The light was automated in 1976.

Like Point Bonita and Point Loma, the light went out during World War II as a defense to nearby Fort Worden and the Puget Sound.