Area 37 ha Nearest city Carmel-by-the-Sea | Established 1986 | |
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Location Monterey County, California, USA Governing body California Department of Parks and Recreation Management California Department of Parks and Recreation Similar Andrew Molera State Park, Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, Julia Pfeiffer Burns Sta, Point Sur Lighthouse, Bixby Creek Bridge | ||
Point sur lighthouse
Point Sur State Historic Park is a state park unit of California, United States, preserving the 1889 Point Sur Lighthouse. The park is located on the Big Sur coastline of Monterey County, 19 miles (31 km) south of Rio Road in Carmel. It is both a California State Park and a property on the National Register of Historic Places.
Contents
- Point sur lighthouse
- Map of Point Sur Lighthouse Monterey CA 93940 USA
- HistoryEdit
- TourismEdit
- Marine Protected AreasEdit
- References
Map of Point Sur Lighthouse, Monterey, CA 93940, USA
Point sur lighthouse
HistoryEdit
Point Sur was a notorious hazard to navigation, and the site of many shipwrecks. After the sinking of the USS Ventura in 1875, it was determined that a lightstation was needed in this remote area.
Point Sur Lighthouse opened on August 1, 1889. This very remote station was required to be self-sufficient, as most supplies had to be brought in by ship. Lighthouse employees and their families had their own vegetable gardens. Children stayed with local ranchers during the week in order to attend school, returning home on weekends, or stayed with distant relatives. In 1927, a schoolteacher was assigned to the Lightstation to teach the six children who resided there. Easy access to the lightstation came in 1937, when Highway One through Big Sur was completed. In the 1940s, children from the Lightstation were assimilated into Big Sur's larger school.
The Lighthouse Service was absorbed into the Coast Guard in 1939, and Point Sur Lighthouse became the property of the Coast Guard. The Lightstation was automated in the late 1960s, and in 1974 ceased to have a light keeper.
The coast off Point Sur Lighthouse was the location of the sinking of the United States Navy airship USS Macon (ZRS-5) in 1935.
Point Sur State Historic Park was established in 1986.
TourismEdit
The park contains California's only complete turn-of-the-20th-century lighthouse open to the public. (The nearby Point Pinos Lighthouse is also open to the public, but is significantly older.) Walking tours are held year-round on Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays, and also on Thursdays during July and August. Tours are first-come, first-served; visitors are advised to arrive a half-hour before the tour.
Marine Protected AreasEdit
Point Sur State Marine Reserve and Marine Conservation Area are marine protected areas offshore from Point Sur Lighthouse. Like underwater parks, these marine protected areas help conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems.