The Lime Kiln Light is a functioning

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navig ...

al aid located on Lime Kiln Point overlooking Dead Man's Bay on the western side of

San Juan Island San Juan Island is the second-largest and most populous of the San Juan Islands in northwestern Washington, United States. It has a land area of 142.59 km2 (55.053 sq mi) and a population of 8,632 as of the 2020 census. Washington State F ...

San Juan County, Washington San Juan County is a county in the Salish Sea in the far northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 17,788. The county seat and only incorporated town is Friday Harbor, on San Juan Island ...

, in the

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 ...

. It guides ships through the

Haro Straits The Haro Strait is one of the main channels connecting the Strait of Georgia to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, separating Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands in British Columbia, Canada from the San Juan Islands of Washington state in the United St ...

and is part of

Lime Kiln Point State Park Lime Kiln Point State Park is a 42-acre Washington state park on the western shore of San Juan Island in the San Juan archipelago. The park is considered one of the best places in the world to view wild orcas from a land-based facility. Due to ...

, which offers tours during summer months.

History

The Lime Kiln Light was established in 1914 when acetylene lights were placed on Lime Kiln Point, a name derived from the lime kilns built there in the 1860s. It was the last major light established in Washington. The light was updated five years later with a octagonal concrete tower rising from the fog signal building, a design that matches the

Alki Point Light The Alki Point Light is an active aid to navigation located on Puget Sound's Alki Point, the southern entrance to Seattle's Elliott Bay, King County, Washington. It is listed as Alki Point Light number 16915 in the USCG light lists. History The f ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. Two keeper's houses and other structures also date from around this time. A fourth-order Fresnel lens was first exhibited from the new tower on June 30, 1919. The

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

automated the Lime Kiln Lighthouse in August 1962, using photoelectric cells to turn the light on at dusk and off during daylight hours. In 1998, the drum lens was replaced with a modern optic, flashing a white light once every 10 seconds. Sitting on the rocky shoreline at a height of , the beacon is visible for .

References

External links

Lime Kiln Point State Park
Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission {{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1914 Lighthouses completed in 1919 Lighthouses in Washington (state) Transportation buildings and structures in San Juan County, Washington Lime kilns in the United States