PACIFIC SKYLINE COUNCIL

LIGHTHOUSE SHOULDER PATCH SERIES

Pacific Skyline Council is proud to announce a series of council shoulder patches (CSPs) featuring the lighthouses of the San Francisco Bay Area. The first two to be released are the world famous Alcatraz Light and local Montara Light. The complete set of twenty lighthouses will be issued in pairs every 6-8 weeks. For the avid patch collector, a limited edition of 100 CSPs with a silver mylar border will be issued for each lighthouse. Cost is $5 for the regular border patch and $15 for the silver mylar border patch, plus shipping. Proceeds will be used to benefit the 2010 National Jamboree contingent from Pacific Skyline Council. Start your collection today!

Set 1

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The Point Montara Light is one of two lighthouses within the physical boundaries of Pacific Skyline Council. It began in 1875 as a fog station and received a kerosene lantern in 1900. The present metal tower structure dates from 1928. Currently it operates as a hostel. More Info.

Set 2

Point Bonita Light - Accessible after traveling through a tunnel dug by Chinese transcontinental railroad workers and crossing a wooden suspension bridge, Point Bonita Light is perched on a rocky cliff at the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Lit in 1855, it marks the northern entrance to the Golden Gate.

Pigeon Point Light - Pigeon Point Light is the second lighthouse within the physical boundaries of Pacific Skyline Council. The beam from its 115 foot tower, one of the tallest lighthouses on the Pacific coast, has illuminated the shoreline since 1872. Pigeon Point Lighthouse currently operates as a hostel.

Set 3

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Point Blunt Light (Angel Island)  was established in 1915 and is located on the southeast side of Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay. It was administered by personnel from the Point Knox Lighthouse until a new watch room was constructed in 1960. It was the last manned California lighthouse ever built.

Point Reyes Light First lit in 1870, Point Reyes Light is situated on a cliff 294 feet above sea level, but 275 feet below the plateau where the living quarters were built. Keepers had to descend 304 steps to the light. Point Reyes has the distinction of being the windiest and foggiest point on the Pacific coast.

Fort Point Light stands on Fort Winfield Scott on the south side of the Golden Gate. Although construction of the original lighthouse began in 1854, the current lighthouse was erected in 1864. Today it is completely overshadowed by the Golden Gate Bridge that looms above.

Mile Rocks Light the only way on and off Mile Rocks Light was a well-timed transfer between a suspended rope ladder and a small boat heaving in the swells and strong currents. This wave swept station was the Bay Area’s most isolated lighthouse in spite of being only a mile from San Francisco.

Año Nuevo became a lighthouse in 1890 when a lens was mounted on the water tank. A proper lighthouse tower was erected in 1914. Located on an island off the southern San Mateo County coast, it is now a popular attraction as the home of a large elephant seal winter breeding colony. 

The “House on the Bay,” Southampton Shoal Light was a Victorian house sitting on eleven piles driven into the bay. Built in 1905, the light was located midway between Tiburon, Point Richmond, and Berkeley. It was moved in 1960 to the St. Francis Yacht Club on Tinsley Island.

Set 4

Established in 1883 as a fog station on the north side of the Golden Gate in Marin County, Lime Point received a lens lantern in 1900. Although still an active light station, it is completely overshadowed by the looming north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Mare Island Light was built in 1873 near the naval base on the southern tip of Mare Island at the junction of the Napa River and Carquinez Strait. For 36 years until its closing in 1917, the lighthouse had the unusual honor of a woman keeper, Mrs. Kate McDougal.

Originally located out in the middle of the harbor, Oakland Harbor Light was eventually reached by the extended Central Pacific Railroad pier, making it the only lighthouse with direct transcontinental railroad service. It is now a waterfront restaurant in Oakland.

From 1898 to 1971, a lightship was anchored 8.6 miles outside the Golden Gate to mark the entrance to the San Francisco Bay. It carried not only a light but also fog signals for when the famous San Francisco fog rolled in and shrouded the coast.

Only 22 feet high, the 1875 light on Yerba Buena Island served as an important marker for ships and ferries crossing the San Francisco Bay. Today the lighthouse dwellings are used by the admiral commanding the US Coast Guard Station San Francisco.

Set 5

This final set of five lighthouses concludes the Pacific Skyline Council lighthouse patch series. As usual, a limited edition of 50 CSPs with a silver mylar border will be issued for each lighthouse. Proceeds will be used to benefit the 2010 National Jamboree contingent from Pacific Skyline Council. Thank you for your support.

 

A manned fog bell was installed in 1886 at Point Knox on Angel Island with a lantern added in 1900. The keepers at Point Knox Light also maintained lights and fog signals at Point Stuart and Point Blunt until new quarters were built at Point Blunt.

 

Carquinez Strait Light was built in 1910 at the end of an extremely long pier in waters deep enough to be serviced by lighthouse tenders and near shipping lanes in Carquinez Strait. This location led to the ultimate demise of Mare Island Light located across the Napa River.

Currently a popular bed and breakfast destination on a small islet off of Point San Pablo, East Brother Light first shined its beam in 1874. It marks the treacherous rocks in the narrow strait between San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. 

Technically within the City and County of San Francisco, the Farallones are located 23 miles offshore and received a lighthouse in 1853, only to have it torn down and rebuilt because the first order Fresnel lens didn’t fit. Today it is a vibrant breeding grounds for thousands of seabirds.

Built in 1891 on pilings due to frequent flooding of the low lying island, Roe Island Light marked a point 33 miles inland from the Pacific. It was destroyed in World War II in the disastrous explosion at the Port Chicago Naval Ordinance Station located across the channel.