Smith Island Light

The Smith Island Light was a lighthouse on Smith Island, Island County, Washington.

Smith Island Light
Smith Island Lighthouse
LocationSmith Island (Washington)
Coordinates48°19′05″N 122°50′39″W[1]
Year first constructed1858
DeactivatedAbandoned 1957, lost to erosion 1998
Tower height15 metre 
Focal height30 metre 
CharacteristicFl W 10s 
Heritageplace listed on the National Register of Historic Places 
Smith Island Light Station
Area0.1 acres (0.040 ha)
Built1858 (1858)
EngineerHartman Bache
NRHP reference No.78002746[2]
Added to NRHPApril 6, 1978
Skunk Bay Memorial Lighthouse
Locationnear Hansville, Washington
Coordinates47°55′09″N 122°34′11″W
Year first constructed1964, by Jim Gibbs
Tower shapeOctagonal cylindrical wooden tower
Tower height30 feet (9.1 m)
CharacteristicContinuous red light

History

The Smith Island Light was constructed in 1858 using the classic New England design of a 1-1/2 story keeper's house with a light tower centered on the roof.[3] Electric power was provided by a bank of 18 lead-acid truck batteries connected in series and recharged by gasoline-powered generators.[4] The structure stood about 200 feet (61 m) from the island's western edge. The bluff began to erode, and when the bluff reached the front door in the 1950s, the lighthouse was abandoned.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[2] The broken lighthouse could be seen clinging precariously to the bluff from the 1980s until the spring of 1998, when the last remains toppled into the sea.[5]

The lighthouse was replaced with an automated navigational light emanating on a 97-foot (30 m) focal plane from a 50-foot (15 m) skeletal tower constructed in 1957.[3] The tower also houses a weather station operated by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.[6]

Before erosion toppled it into the sea, maritime author Jim Gibbs obtained permission from the Coast Guard to retrieve the lantern room. The lantern room is now part of the privately owned Skunk Bay Memorial Lighthouse located on northern tip of the Kitsap Peninsula near Hansville.[7]

References
  1. "Smith Island Lighthouse". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
  2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  3. Rowlett, Russ (October 19, 2014). "Lighthouses of the United States: Washington". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  4. "Smith Island". Doanld Skiff. January 29, 2008. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  5. Nelson, Sharlene (January 1999). "And, now there are three . . . The Demise of the Smith Island Light". Lighthouse Digest. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  6. "Smith Island, WA weather station". National Data Buoy Center, NOAA. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  7. "Skunk Bay, WA". Lighthousefriends. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
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