Cape Meares Lighthouse, Oregon
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CAPE MEARES LIGHT
Tillamook (1890)
As with the Yaquina Head Light well to the south, the lighthouse that now stands on Cape Meares was built in the wrong place. Originally intended for Cape Lookout, the station ended up on Cape Meares because of a mapmaker’s error. The two names had been reversed on U.S. Coast Survey charts, and dismayed officials detected did not discover the mistake until the station was almost complete. Rather thank incur the cost of building an entirely new facility on Cape Lookout, the Lighthouse Service decided to leave well enough alone.
Only thirty-eight feet tall, the octagonal iron tower stood at the edge of a cliff, placing the focal plane of its light 215 feet above the breakers. A huge first-order Fresnel lens, for many years illuminated by a coal oil lamp, made the light visible from twenty-one miles at sea.
Deactivated in 1963, the old lighthouse is now a popular tourist attraction. Much to their discredit, vandals have damaged the magnificent lens on more than one occasion.
Travel information: Located in Cape Meares State Park, the lighthouse can be reached via Three Capes Loop Road, off U.S. Highway 101 at Tillamook. Call (503) 842-3182.