Windward Point Lighthouse, Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Posted by: hzoi
N 19° 53.558 W 075° 09.797
18Q E 482908 N 2199609
Steel structure lighthouse built in 1904, originally lit by whale oil. The light was operated until 1955.
Waymark Code: WM15XTC
Location: Cuba
Date Posted: 03/19/2022
Views: 1
After the United States leased Guantanamo Bay from Cuba and established a naval base, a lighthouse was built in 1903 on the west (leeward) side of the approach to Guantanamo Bay. The Windward Point lighthouse was added in 1904 to aid navigation. At some point the leeward lighthouse was removed.
The 60' steel tower was constructed in the United States and then shipped to Cuba and placed here. The light initially contained a Fourth Order lens lit with whale oil. Whale oil range lights were installed across the bay to the west, at Hicacal Beach, in 1905 and north, at Fisherman's Point, in 1907. The lights were converted to electric in 1918. At some point the Fourth Order lens was replaced with an LHB optic, which itself was removed in 1966; it now is on display at the Coast Guard museum in New London, Connecticut.
The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1955, when a beacon was installed on Beacon Hill. Today, the old lighthouse quarters house the Guantanamo Bay Lighthouse Museum, a collection of photos and artifacts about the general history of the bay and of the lighthouse itself.
Coastal Lighthouse: Lighthouse
Range Lights: Rear Range Light
LIGHTHOUSE CHALLENGE VISIT: Not listed
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