Point Retreat Light

Point Retreat Light
Location Admiralty Island, Lynn Canal, Alaska
Coordinates 58°24′41″N 134°57′18″W / 58.41139°N 134.95500°W
Year first lit 1904
Automated 1973
Foundation Concrete
Construction Concrete
Tower shape White art deco square tower
Height 63 feet (19 m) above sea level
Original lens First order Fresnel lens 1904
Range 9 nautical miles (17 km; 10 mi)
Characteristic Flashing white 6s
Admiralty number G6528
ARLHS number ALK-010
USCG number

6-23955

Point Retreat Light Station
Nearest city Juneau, Alaska
Area 1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built 1924
Architect U.S. Lighthouse Service
Architectural style Moderne
Governing body Private
MPS Light Stations of the United States MPS
NRHP Reference # 03000529[1]
Added to NRHP June 19, 2003

Point Retreat Light is a lighthouse located on the Mansfield Peninsula at the northern tip of Admiralty Island in southeastern Alaska, USA. It provides aid in navigation through the Lynn Canal.

Naming

Point Retreat was named by Joseph Whidbey on July 19, 1794 because of his need to retreat from local Tlingit.[2]

History

Point Retreat was set aside as a 1,505-acre (609 ha) lighthouse reserve in 1901 by executive order of President William McKinley, but the point had to wait for its lighthouse due to inadequate funding. Point Retreat was first lit in 1904 and displayed a fixed white light. The first Point Retreat Lighthouse was a six-foot-tall hexagonal wooden tower, topped by a hexagonal lantern room. In 1917, Point Retreat was stripped of its personnel and downgraded to a minor light until 1924, when a new combination lighthouse and fog signal was built. The lantern was removed in the 1950s and a solar-powered 300 mm lens was installed on a post attached to the tower. In 1973 the light was again unmanned and downgraded to a minor light again.

In 2003 the light was added to the National Register of Historic Places.[1][3]

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13.
  2. ↑ Wagner, Henry (1937). The Cartography of the Northwest Coast of America to the Year 1800. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 385.
  3. ↑ David Benton (May 1, 2003). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Point Retreat Light Station / Point Retreat Lighthouse AHRS Site No. JUN-00084". National Park Service. and accompanying photos

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Point Retreat Light.