Ediz Hook Light

Ediz Hook Lighthouse was a lighthouse in Port Angeles, Washington, United States. Originally constructed in 1865, the lighthouse structure was later replaced in 1908 by a new structure, and finally in 1946 by an automated beacon on the United States Coast Guard air station on the end of Ediz Hook.[1]

Ediz Hook Light

Keeper's house (foreground) and 1908 Ediz Hook Lighthouse (background) (USCG)
Location	Port Angeles, Washington
Coordinates	48.11275°N 123.4266°W / 48.11275; -123.4266[1] (current location of moved 1908 building)
Year first constructed	1865
Year first lit	1865
Deactivated	1908 (first structure); 1946 (second structure)
Construction	Wood
Tower shape	Square
Original lens	Fifth order fresnel lens

History

Ediz Hook is a three-mile-long sand spit that juts north and east into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and forms the natural harbor at Port Angeles. Private operators built navigational warning fires on the spit as early as 1861.[1]

The first Ediz Hook lighthouse was built near the tip of the spit[2] in 1865. It was a two-story, schoolhouse-type building with a lighthouse tower arising at one end of its gabled roof. Its first keeper was George Smith, the father of Port Angeles's prime promoter, Victor Smith.[3] In 1908, a second Ediz Hook lighthouse was constructed near the first lighthouse, with the two buildings existing in close proximity to each other.[4] The new lighthouse used the same Carl W. Leick design employed at Oregon's Cape Arago Light.[1]

After taking over the spit for the Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles, the Coast Guard deactivated the lighthouse in 1946 and replaced it with a skeletal communications tower.[5] The site's original lighthouse was demolished in 1939.[1] The light tower of the 1908 keeper's house was removed when the structure was relocated to Fourth and Albert streets in Port Angeles where it has been a private residence since 1946.[6]

References

1. "Ediz Hook, WA". Lighthousefriends. Archived from the original on February 2, 2010. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
2. "Ediz Hook Lighthouse (historical)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
3. Oldham, Kit (July 8, 2007). "Port Angeles -- Thumbnail History". The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History. HistoryLink. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
4. Rowlett, Russ (October 19, 2014). "Ediz Hook Light Station". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
5. Rowlett, Russ (October 19, 2014). "Lighthouses of the United States: Washington". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
6. "Ediz Hook Lighthouse, Washington". The Lighthouse People. Retrieved April 30, 2015.

External links

• "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Washington". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01.