The old lighthouse, located on the Point Loma Peninsula, is located on the Cabrillo National Monument. Today it is no longer used as a lighthouse, and there is a museum inside. Sometimes the lighthouse is mistakenly referred to as the “Old Spanish Lighthouse,” but in fact it was not built at all during the Spanish or Mexican San Diego period. Point Loma Lighthouse was built in 1855, when the city was already governed by the United States, and California became a part of the state. It is true that this event only 19 days preceded the decision to build lighthouses on the California coast.

Point Loma Lighthouse was one of a series of lighthouses funded by Congress in 1850 (along with Alcatraz Island, Point Concepcion, Battery Point, Farallon Island, and Point Pinos Island). Construction began in 1854 when building materials arrived from San Francisco. The lantern and lenses were ordered from Paris and arrived a year and a half later. That same year the lighthouse was completed.

After the work was completed, a small building was added to the lighthouse, originally used as a warehouse for oil, wood, and other supplies. In 1875, part of the building was converted into a two-room apartment for the lighthouse keeper. It is in this annex that the museum exhibit operates today.

While the lighthouse operated, it remained the tallest of all the lighthouses in the United States. Generally speaking, this was not an advantage: since the lighthouse stood on top of a cliff 122 m high, fog and low clouds often blocked its light to ships. On foggy nights, the keeper was forced to fire blanks from his rifle to literally drive ships away from the dangerous spot. So in 1891 the lighthouse lantern was moved lower.

The museum at the lighthouse features original lenses as well as maps, historical documents and the original furnishings, which, by looking around, one can imagine life in the place. In particular, it tells the interesting story of San Diego pioneer and lighthouse keeper Robert Decatur Israel, who worked in that capacity the longest. Born in Pittsburgh, Robert went through the Mexican War, including the famous Battle of Chapultepec, was appointed assistant keeper in 1871 and promoted to the rank of keeper in 1874 (his wife Maria became his assistant, as was the custom in lighthouses). The Israel family, along with their four children, lived alone on Point Loma, making sure that the light at the lighthouse burned every night. And so it went on for 18 consecutive years. All the children grew up, and one of the Israelites’ grandchildren was also born in the lighthouse.

To understand what was so special about the life of the Israelite family in the lighthouse, one has to imagine the children crossing the bay in the fog every morning to get to school, and how only occasionally a citizen dared to ride through the mud and slush to the lighthouse to visit the Robinsons who lived there.

Normally the lighthouse tower is closed to the public, but two days a year you can tour it. Those are April 25, the birthday of the National Park Service, and November 15, the birthday of the lighthouse.