San Juan Island, Lime Kiln Light Station - San Juan County WA
N 48° 30.953 W 123° 09.147
10U E 488741 N 5373651
The Lime Kiln Light Station was the last major lighthouse established in Washington and the last to get electricity. Automated and still functional, it currently serves mainly as a whale research center.
Waymark Code: WMGR5G
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 04/03/2013
Views: 9
The Lime Kiln Lighthouse is perched at Dead Man’s Bay overlooking Haro Strait on the west side of San Juan Island at the Lime Kiln Point State Park in Washington. Haro Strait is a major shipping route that links Puget Sound to the Gulf of Georgia. The light station was established in 1914 and named for the nearby
lime kilns. The tower began operation in 1919 and required two keepers who kept round-the-clock vigil. The keepers and their families were housed in residences built on a bluff overlooking the lighthouse.
An incandescent oil vapor lamp was used until the 1950s when electricity finally came to the Lime Kiln station. A submarine power cable was run from Anacortes to the San Juan Islands. Running power lines to the remote location was not an option because of the solid rock making it almost impossible to set poles. The oil-vapor lamp was replaced by an electric bulb. In the summer of 1962, the Coast Guard automated the lighthouse using photoelectric cells and replacing the bulb with a flashing beacon.
In 1978, the light station was officially designated as a historic site and listed on the Washington Heritage Register and the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1983, the Coast Guard leased the light station to the Moclips Cetological Society, a whale observation organization, for use as a research center. The following year, the rest of the property was turned over to Washington for use as a state park.
Today, the light tower still flashes an intermittent light, but the building is primarily used for whale research and interpretation. Webcams and a hydrophone assist in remote tracking of the orcas. The former lighthouse keeper houses on the bluff are used by park rangers.
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