Trinidad Head Light Station

Perched on a ledge about 175 feet up the side of Trinidad Head, this light station guided ships into Trinidad Harbor on the northern California coast. It consists of a short brick lighthouse tower finished in 1871, a wooden fog-signal building from 1900, and a four-unit keeper's residence built in 1969 that does not count as historic. The tower is the only one-story, brick, pyramidal lighthouse ever built in California, and the fog-signal building, originally a bell house, is the last of its kind in the state. The station was listed for its role in the maritime transportation that sustained coastal communities, when Trinidad shipped mining equipment, lumber and farm goods, and for its well-preserved original buildings. The original barn, landing, early keeper's quarters and weight tower are gone. The first lens and the 4,000-pound bronze bell are displayed in the town of Trinidad, near a replica of the tower.