{"nrhp_refnum":"81000176","name":"Point Conception Light Station","other_names":["Humqaq (Chumash Indian Nameplace)"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"U.S. Coast Guard Light Station","address_restricted":false,"city":"Santa Barbara","county":"Santa Barbara County","state":"CA","lat":34.45054757050005,"lon":-120.46931319428165,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1981-02-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Prehistoric","Historic - Aboriginal","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 29.6-acre Coast Guard light station district at Point Conception, Santa Barbara County, California, with a lighthouse and keeper's dwelling built in 1881, later buildings, and archaeological sites.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the point was a long-known landmark for mariners, called \"California's Cape Horn,\" and was chosen for an early U.S. government lighthouse first lit in 1856. The present 1881 tower replaced the original 1854 structure. The grounds also contain 12 documented archaeological sites, including shell middens from earlier Indian occupation.","narrative":"Point Conception Light Station occupies 29.6 acres of windswept headland in Santa Barbara County. The district includes an 1881 white stuccoed brick keeper's dwelling with an attached 52-foot light tower that still uses its original lens, plus a coal house, a 1912 family quarters, a caretaker's residence, garages, a power house, a redwood water tank from 1881, and a fog horn. Mariners nicknamed the point \"California's Cape Horn\" for its rough waters, and Spanish navigators used it as a landmark. The first lighthouse, built by contractors Francis A. Gibbons and Francis X. Kelly, was finished in 1854 after the tower was rebuilt to meet an inspector's demands. It was first lit in February 1856. Cracking led to its replacement with the present tower, set lower on the point. A survey of the grounds also found 12 archaeological sites, including shell middens up to six feet deep, which add prehistoric significance.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Francis A. Gibbons and Francis X. Kelly (contractors for the original 1854 lighthouse)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"The 1912 family quarters is uninhabitable and boarded up. A caretaker lives on site and maintains the aids to navigation. The 1881 light still uses its original lens.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.375143-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/81000176.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000176/68a5d78e52-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000176/68a5d78e52-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"United States Coast Guard","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USCGpointconception1882.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">United States Coast Guard</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USCGpointconception1882.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861609","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Conception_Light","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7207992"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/santa-barbara-county/point-conception-light-station-81000176/"}