This history sign is one of six interpretive signs at the south Silver Point VP.
Marker Name: ”Terrible Tillie”
Marker Text: The lonely light station in the distance, clinging to the top of a sea stack, is Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. Called “Terrible Tillie” in its glory days, this light station presented a harrowing construction project, and for lighthouse keepers, one of the most demanding posts on the West Coast.
During the 525 wretched days of construction (1879-81), Terrible Tillie challenged workers at every step. The rock’s summit was unsuitable for building, so laborers blasted the stubborn basalt. Workers struggled through three winters, huddled at first in canvas shelters and later behind stone walls, lashed by winds and soaked by breakers.
Once built, Tillie lost none of her terror. A crew of four was kept on edge with the constant needs of the ocean-besieged stone building and its critical beam of light. Over the years, Tillie saved countless ships from the teeth of Oregon’s coast, guiding vessels into the relative safety of the Columbia River. In 1957, after seventy-seven years of service, Tillie’s light was extinguished forever and replaced by a navigation marker.
Today, “Tillamook Rock Lighthouse” is a privately owned columbarium (a place where the cremated remains of loved ones are stored). The lighthouse was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, and is protected under conservation easements by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The rock provides refuge for 12,000 nesting birds - including Brandt’s cormorant and the common murre.
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