Ediz Hook Lighthouse was a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

Port Angeles Port Angeles ( ) is a city and county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 19,960 at the 2020 census, it is the most populous city in the county, as well as the most populous city on the Olympic Peninsula. T ...

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United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. 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 The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

air station on the end of Ediz Hook.

History

Ediz Hook is a three-mile-long sand spit that juts north and east into the

Strait of Juan de Fuca The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's main outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The Canada–United States border, international boundary between Canada and the ...

and forms the natural harbor at Port Angeles. Private operators built navigational warning fires on the spit as early as 1861. The first Ediz Hook lighthouse was built near the tip of the spit 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. In 1908, a second Ediz Hook lighthouse was constructed near the first lighthouse, with the two buildings existing in close proximity to each other. The new lighthouse used the same Carl W. Leick design employed at

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

Cape Arago Light The Cape Arago Lighthouse (formerly known as Cape Gregory Lighthouse) is a lighthouse located in Charleston, Oregon, Charleston, Oregon. It is located north of Cape Arago State Park, Cape Arago. History Starting in the mid-19th century, Coos ...

. 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. The site's original lighthouse was demolished in 1939. 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.

References

External links

* {{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1865 Lighthouses completed in 1908 Lighthouses in Washington (state) Transportation buildings and structures in Clallam County, Washington 1865 establishments in Washington Territory