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Whenever I think of San Francisco the first thing that comes to my mind is one of my favorite old television police shows, The Streets of San Francisco, and one of my new favorites, Monk that both take place in the city of rolling hills and cable cars. Others may quickly think of the Golden Gate Bridge, the great San Francisco Earthquake or perhaps the diverse society and politics of the city.
But one thing is for certain, few people think of San Francisco for its historic lighthouses, which in itself are unusual since the city is home to the San Francisco Examiner that was once the cornerstone of William Randolph Hearst's media empire, which must have given some extensive coverage to the beacons over the years.
However thanks to the extensive research of author Betty S. Veronico, many rare and historic images of the San Francisco's lighthouse have been rediscovered and captured in a wonderful book titled Lighthouses of the Bay Area in the Images of America series of books from Arcadia Publishing.
It was the Gold Rush of 1848 that propelled the desperate need for the 19 lighthouses that were built in San Francisco Bay and its approaches, as well as two lightships that were once stationed there and the large depot at Yerba Buena.
As well as vintage images of lighthouses, the really neat part of this book is the large collection of other vintage images of lighthouse life that otherwise might never have been found or published for everyone to enjoy and learn from. This includes many old photographs of the lighthouse families, lightships, the lighthouse depot and the fog signals that are all so much the part of lighthouse history. The images make you actually feel as though you have stepped back in time and are actually there.
Some of the lighthouses included in the book are Point Reyes, Farallon Islands, Point Bonita, Point Diablo, Mile Rock, Lime Point, Oakland Harbor, East Brother, Mare Island, Angel Island, Point Montara, Southampton Shoal, Carquinez Strait, Rose Island, and of course the famous Alcatraz Lighthouse as well as the San Francisco Lightship.
This story appeared in the
March 2009 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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