Point Conception Light Station

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.