Lighthouse buffs take note: a working Fresnel lens tops the tower at Point Wilson lighthouse near Port Townsend, Washington. Why is this exciting? Because a Fresnel lens is a beautiful thing, and there are only two working Fresnel lens in Washington state. The other one is at the Mukilteo Lighthouse in Snohomish County. Unlike the one in Point Wilson, it is a fixed lens and does not rotate.
Fresnel Lens
What is a Fresnel lens, you may ask? First, it was invented by Augustin Fresnel in 1822, to improve upon the convex lens they used in lighthouses in the early 1800’s. A Fresnel lens, very simply put, differs from a conventional convex lens because it is made up of multiple prisms. These prisms refract, bend, and intensify the light, allowing it to shine much farther out to sea then other lens.
There are different sizes, known as orders, of Fresnel lens. The largest is the first-order Fresnel lens, which shines light up to twenty-one nautical miles. Pigeon Point Lighthouse on California’s San Mateo Coast has a first-order Fresnel lens. The smallest lens in the USA is the sixth-order Fresnel lens. This is used to light up smaller bodies of water like bays and rivers.
Point Wilson Lighthouse has a sixth-order Fresnel lens. It can shine light up to fifteen nautical miles; which brings us to why there is a lighthouse at Point Wilson in the first place.
The Point Wilson Location
The Point Wilson Lighthouse is located on a sand spit on the Olympic Peninsula, where the Strait of Juan De Fuca meets Admiralty Inlet. High winds and fog, along with dangerous tides can endanger ships entering the waters of the Puget Sound, so in 1879, the US Lighthouse Service built a lighthouse.
The original light tower (made of wood) was located on top of the light keeper’s house. In 1913 they built a new concrete tower, separate from the keeper’s house, to hold the light structure. This tower rises 46 feet high from the base of the building to the center of the lantern.
Point Wilson’s Lighthouse Characteristic
The U.S. Coast Guard decommissioned the Fresnel lens in 1976, replacing it with an LED light that was fixed to an outside railing. Luckily, they left the original Fresnel lens in place (most Fresnel lens were lost or destroyed). And fortunately for us lighthouse lovers, the US Lighthouse Society at Point Wilson saw fit to restore this Fresnel lens to its rightful duty.
The Point Wilson lighthouse now shines forth every night and foggy day with its characteristic light pattern: 15 seconds of white followed by 5 seconds of red. There are three red panels, so this pattern happens three times within a one-minute rotation of the lens (20 seconds each). (For more information on lighthouse signatures, please see my blog on The Lasting Allure of the Pigeon Point Lighthouse.)
Visiting Point Wilson Lighthouse
Visitors can access the Point Wilson Lighthouse through Fort Worden State Park, which is located about two miles from Port Townsend. Port Townsend is a wonderful town, full of Victorian buildings, charming shops, restaurants, and art galleries. And Fort Worden State Park has much to see as well–hiking paths through old gun batteries and forest, a marine-science center, the beach, and the lighthouse. It’s a beautiful park year-round, however, the lighthouse is only open for tours on the weekend.
Yet it is still a picturesque spot.
Point Wilson Lighthouse Opening Hours
Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm. Entrance is free but donations are gladly accepted. For more information, please visit their website: https://www.pointwilsonlighthouse.org/
Also, the Keepers’ Duplex and four-bedroom Chief’s House are open for vacation rentals year round: https://www.pointwilsonlighthouse.org/vacation-rental
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