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There wasn’t much to go on—just a few scribbled notes on the back of an old postcard. The photo was a bit faded, but clearly showed a man in a lighthouse keeper’s hat, posing with a young man and woman. She is holding, of all things, a raccoon. The notes were brief “Pete, lighthouse keeper” Lime Point - inner entrance to San Francisco Bay - 1912.”
I found out that Lime Point was a two-keeper family station, with a single-story fog signal building and a two-story residence. Lime Point station was not designed to show a light signal; rather, this unique station was built to combat California’s greatest navigational hazard—FOG.
Keepers at Lime Point station alternated 6-hour shifts. Round-the-clock protection was essential. By 1902, the Lighthouse Service began the process of equipping fog signal stations with lights. Lime Point, they decided, would be equipped with a 300-millimeter lens lantern. The “add-on” process created a unique looking station with the light placed on the wall of the fog signal building.
Lime Point station survived several landslides, as well as the earthquake of 1906. The station barely survived a navigational disaster. The India Bear, a freighter of the Pacific Far East Line, plowed into the station on June 3, 1960. A year later, the station was automated and the residents left for other assignments.
Today Lime Point is still on the light list. The property is closed to visitors, but a small road winds down to Lime Point from East Fort Baker on the Marin Headlands. Lime Point is the only unaltered California fog signal station still in existence. And yet, it sits neglected and forgotten.
Which brings us full circle. Ole Pete. A family portrait perhaps? Guests visiting the station? Who knows? A faded photograph rescued from a box of obscurity — a fitting tribute to the lost stories of lighthouse keepers everywhere.
The memories are out there — we just have to find them.
This story appeared in the
September 2001 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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