On New Year’s Day in 1880, J.S. Maggs, the first lighthouse keeper at Point No Point, lit a household kerosene lantern in the tower and since then it has served as a mariners’ aid to navigation where Admiralty Inlet and Puget Sound meet.

To Maggs’ relief, a fifth-order Fresnel lens finally arrived the following February and was installed at a height of 27 feet. It was the first lighthouse on Puget Sound. The fifth-order was replaced with a larger fourth-order Fresnel lens in 1915, the same lens still in the tower today.

But last month, on June 16, the historic Point No Point light was switched off, ‘secured’ by the Coast Guard, and replaced with a modern automated optic light in plastic casing on a rail outside the cupola. Never again will the Fresnel lens, with its brown scar on one side from a lightening strike in 1931, rotate and emit its beam of light out 19 miles.

There was no fanfare or celebration in recognition of the 91 years the Fresnel lens had served. Kitsap County Facilities, Parks and Recreation Department, which is leasing the lighthouse and surrounding three-acre park from the Coast Guard under a 15-year lease, was not notified.

Docents Scott Jamison and Robert Jungst who arrived for a Father’s Day shift to lead tours of the lighthouse were shocked to see that the historic light was out and at a standstill.

A bright spot soon shown through when the Coast Guard announced it would honor requests by the county to keep the lens in the tower due to its fragile state, beauty and historical precedence.

“The light was secured in preparation to make it ready for transfer when that time comes about – that’s why the historic optic was turned off. So that way – whoever receives the lighthouse, whether it be the county parks or a private entity – the historic lens will be able to be transferred with the lighthouse and remain intact,” explained Chief Chris Sage of the Coast Guard’s Aids to Navigation team for Puget Sound.

“We all knew it was going to happen, but when, no one knew,” replied Dori Leckner, maintenance supervisor for the county parks department who is also the liaison working with volunteer docents. She has worked with the Coast Guard for years to ensure that the lens stay in place. In January 2000, the Coast Guard had sent out a memo recommending replacement of the classic Fresnel lens with a modern optic because the mechanisms were so old that it was difficult to find replacement parts.

Historic lens to stay

It’s expected that the lighthouse will be put on the Coast Guard’s excess list in the next week or two. Replacing a historical light is the last step before a lighthouse is advertised as available for a non-profit or county agency to take ownership of, Sage said.

The modern optic light has the same unique set of flashes as the original, three white flashes every 10 seconds, giving seafarers a way to identify their location. The foghorn signal is unique as well, giving two blasts every 30 seconds in foggy conditions.

Elinor DeWire, president of the Washington Lightkeepers Association, informed Leckner and docents that paperwork to decommission the Fresnel lens is on the desk of Patricia Duff, the Coast Guard’s Lighthouse Property Disposal manager in Oakland, Calif., a step that must occur for the lens to remain in the tower.

“So, the good news is that your request for the lens to remain has been honored,” DeWire said.

The lighthouse at Westport was recently transferred to the City of Seattle in similar fashion, according to John Barberi, a civilian projects officer in the Aids to Navigation Northwest office. The next lighthouse on the list is Point Robinson on Vashon Island.

The Coast Guard will continue to maintain the new light and but ownership of the lighthouse, oil shed and adjacent keepers’ quarters will be transferred to a private entity. The former keeper’s quarters are rented out to private residents. The county owns an additional 57 acres that make up Point No Point County Park.

The lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. In 1855, Point No Point was the site where Isaac Stevens, first Governor of the Territory of Washington, met with over 1,000 members of area tribes to sign a treaty to end the Indian Wars, ceding the United States land from the crest of the Olympics to Puget Sound and designating reservations for the tribes.

Up for grabs

In 2003, the Coast Guard placed Point No Point Lighthouse on the excess list. At that time, Leckner worked to fill out extensive paperwork for the county to gain ownership. But after staff changes at the Coast Guard led to a review of the process, Leckner said Point No Point was pulled back off the list.

Now Leckner, with the help of former county planner Rick Fackler who recently wrapped up work on the county’s Open Space Plan, will tackle the paperwork again in hopes of obtaining the lighthouse. It’s very likely that other non-profit agencies and national or regional lighthouse groups will also file applications for ownership, DeWire said.

Owning the surrounding park gives the county some extra pull in being awarded the lighthouse. To further strengthen the county’s application, docents are in the process of forming a non-profit organization, the Friends of Point No Point Lighthouse. They’ve been meeting for several months to strategize, define their mission and prioritize the greatest needs for restoring and maintaining the buildings, while keeping the lighthouse open for public tours. DeWire said that it helps immensely for an excess lighthouse applicant to show that it has broad community support and the ability to raise funds to take care of the structures.

After 126 years of signaling to mariners, the Point No Point Lighthouse carries on as a blinking beacon Lightkeeper Maggs first illuminated.

Point No Point Lighthouse will be part of “The Great Lighthouse Hunt 2006” Aug. 12-13, an event sponsored by the Washington Lightkeepers Association. For more information, go to www.walightkeepers.com.

The lighthouse is open for tours 12-4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.