Untethered : Global Nomads: 30 Days at Battery Point Lighthouse, Crescent City, CA 1Nov to 1Dec

We arrived the night before we were due on 1Nov. Harlan came down the island on the ATV meeting us as the tide was going out. He and Jane were moving off island to complete the switch. The ATV needed to be repaired, broken shock. George and Cheryl came by with their ATV on trailer to help bring everyone's things across.

Battery Point Lighthouse at sunset 31Oct

Harlan and Jane Watkins have been part of the lighthouse through the Del Norte County Historical Society, Harlan is our contact and has taken over managing the lighthouse. We met with Karen Betlejewski first at the museum to get keys, money and run through on the Square system before heading over to the lighthouse at 13:30 when the tide was going out.

We were moved into the lighthouse by 15:00, it is an honor and privilege to be able to live in the lighthouse, complete daily chores and other things around the light and island.

Our first sunset at Battery Point Lighthouse 1Nov

The first 11 days we stayed on the island, we had some new friends, Paul and Bruce, stopped by from Gold Beach, OR. They went to the Rumiano Cheese Company, we have been told about their cheese curds. We completed daily chores, cleaning and checking for water infiltration into the building and basement.

We had tours everyday prior to the official weekend days. Our first weekend permitting people to cross for the tours was the 13th and 14th November from 11-4 tide permitting. We had good weather for the weekend with many guests on the island wanting tours.

In 1855, the ship America burned in the Crescent City Harbor. Three cannons were salvaged from the shipwreck and mounted nearby on the point at the northern side of the harbor's entrance. The cannons, which were often fired during Fourth of July celebrations, led to the point being named Battery Point.

Sunrise waves

The path leading to shore and the beach, high tide no path and no beach

In its 160-year history, many keepers and their families have tended the light. Also known as the Crescent City Light Station, the lighthouse was operated by the U.S. Lighthouse Service until 1936 when the U.S. Coast Guard took over operation and maintenance. The light was automated in 1953, but the Coast Guard continued to maintain the Fifth Order Drumm lens until 1965 when it was decommissioned. The light was then reactivated as a private aid to navigation in 1982.

We actually performed tours of the lighthouse during the week and off hours on the weekends as "unofficial tours" bringing people through the Residence into the main 4 room house.

The lighthouse was built in 1856 of 2 foot thick granite and stands on a 6 foot thick granite foundation. The house is Cape Cod style with dining room, parlor (now the museum and boutique), two bedrooms on the second floor. The second floor rooms are the Wayne Piland room (in the name of the last lighthouse keeper) and the current resident keeper bedroom.

Because of this location, the station was always in peril. One such event occurred in 1879. A heavy storm rolled in off the Pacific and sent a huge wave towards the lighthouse. It is estimated the first wave was 45' and so powerful, it knocked in the wall of the kitchen, which in turn knocked the stove over. The stove set the kitchen on fire, the keeper was attempting to pump water from the cistern to put the fire out that had reached the lean-to roof, luckily for the keeper, another wave estimated to be 75' quickly followed and extinguished the fire.

Another such story of a massive wave occurred on the night of March 27, 1964. An earthquake in Alaska sent five tidal waves down the coast. Luckily for the keepers, the way the waves broke, missed the lighthouse. Crescent City was not spared. Twenty-nine blocks in town were demolished by the waves. Today,, the lighthouse is a museum, open to the public during low tide.

Kitchen, part of the unofficial tour built between 1897 to 1907.

This room was originally the dining room, converted into a Victorian Parlor to give the public a feel on how the lighthouse keepers lived.

Wayne E. Piland room, antique furniture and artifacts, would have been the original keepers room facing northerly allowing the keeper to sleep during the day when necessary

The current keepers room, faces southerly, much light comes into the room from sunrise to sunset

Bathroom was added above the kitchen structure with clawfoot tub and modern conveniences around 1907

Tower stands on a 6 foot square foundation in the basement supporting this masonry brick structure. Both the house and tower would survive independent of the loss of the other.

Our second day at the lighthouse the waves were breaking and crashing on the rocks and cliffs of the island. Change in the weather with higher wave heights and tides.

Waves crashing all day, this was taken at 11:15 am

Morning light

The sunrises here are amazing, never disappointed getting outside with the wind, waves, fresh air and dawn

The weather and days all blend over time but the lighthouse had an impact on us. The beauty of being on an island then watched the public attempts to cross the 'dragons back' or beat a wave breaking on the rocks in anticipation of coming up. We greeted many people when they came up to the light, gave the history of the building and the characters that lived here. It was a complete pleasure to have the opportunity to be keepers and dosants at Battery Point Lighthouse.

We were officially open for tours 6 days, 3 weekends, 19 hours, we elected to give tours during off hours when people were interested, 345 people came through the lighthouse, not counting the amounts of people we spoke with outdoors.