A Lamp Relit: the Fresnel lens returns to Point Wilson Lighthouse
[caption id align="alignnone" width="5472"]
Though the new Fresnel lens has one of the best views in Port Townsend, the public have to admire the new lens (and Whidbey Island) from below. [/caption]
By Sarah Bofenkamp
On October 29, after a determined journey, the fourth-order Fresnel lens atop the Point Wilson Lighthouse was lit for the first time in 17 years. This historic relighting not only marked a significant phase in the ongoing restoration of the Point Wilson property but also added Port Townsend’s lighthouse to a list of only four in Washington state with an operable Fresnel lens.
[caption id align="alignnone" width="5472"]
Three red panels allow the light to flash red every 20 seconds, a signal unique to Point Wilson. [/caption]
Originally shipped from Paris and installed in 1879, the lens is both a work of art and a worldly scientific advancement that lives on Port Townsend’s shore. Specifically designed to help travelers orient through the elements, the beehive-shaped lens was fitted with three red flash panels to help signify Port Wilson. Completing one rotation per minute, it produces a white light with a red flash every 20 seconds: a signal that has represented its place on Puget Sound for 145 years.
Over decades this signal used only human power, kerosene lamps, steam, and electricity to illuminate the waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Admiralty Inlet, until the lighthouse was automated in 1976. After further modernization in 2007, however, the Fresnel lens was decommissioned. Though it never moved from its place of prominence in Point Wilson’s lantern room, a VRB-25 beacon was brought in to do the job instead. After all, there has always been a job to do—a signal to shine and a way to light.
“Friends now send me photos of the light from the ferry, from the bluff,” said lighthouse keeper Mel Carter about the recent relighting. “You can see it for about 16 miles on the water.” Soon, visitors to the lighthouse will be able to glimpse the famous Fresnel lens much closer up than that. When opening season begins in late April, light seekers will be welcome to ascend the stairs below the lantern room and watch the lens at work above.
[caption id align="alignnone" width="4723"]
The lighthouse and the lighthouse keeper’s house, right at the end of Point Wilson in Fort Worden. [/caption]
All this was done after the Point Wilson Lighthouse property saw the longest vacancy period in its decade-long history. All three of its structures—the lighthouse, the Keeper’s Duplex, and the Chief’s House—fell victim to the weather and the persistent battering of seagulls. It wasn’t until 2019 that the Coast Guard found a partner in the United States Lighthouse Society: a locally based organization with a heart for restoration and real resources for preservation.
Since then, necessary water and septic infrastructure have been installed or improved upon. Building rehabilitation and the replacement of the roof on the Keeper’s Duplex have also been major projects, allowing for the Point Wilson property to re-open for more vacation rentals, programs, and partnerships in the last few years.
“We’re trying to set the stage,” said Carter. “I see all of these possibilities here, how it’s interconnected. Everyone is locally linked to this lighthouse. This is Port Townsend’s lighthouse, Port Townsend’s porch light.”
With the Fresnel lens back in place, the U.S. Lighthouse Society has high hopes for a bright future at Point Wilson. More volunteer docents, a reinforced breakwater, more visitors and renters, and a new roof for the lighthouse are all on the shortlist. Not to mention, the relighting ceremony for Port Townsend’s most historic porch light is set to be scheduled next May.
All photos by Mary Welcome.
