Yerba Buena Lighthouse

October 18, 2016 by lauramacky 48 Comments

Thought I’d try a more artistic rendering for today.  Sometimes when I don’t have any new pictures to work on, I find something that might lend itself to some textures and such.  All this while I watched last night’s recorded episode of The Voice.  LOL.  (You can read about the lighthouse below if you wish.)

This lighthouse sits on Yerba Buena Island between the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.  Yerba Buena was originally nicknamed “Goat Island” due to the Costanoan Indians who would herd goats on the island.  In 1873, the U.S. Army set up camp on the island, which ended up driving away the Indians (sadly).  In 1874, the Lighthouse Board set up a Lighthouse Depot on the island to maintain all the aids to navigation for the Bay Area.

The lighthouse was built in 1874, mainly to serve passenger boats and ferries between Oakland and San Francisco.  Once the Bay Bridge opened in the late 1930s, the decision was made to keep the lighthouse operational due to increased shipping traffic in the Bay.  To this day, the lighthouse still retains its original fourth-order Fresnel lens and is still an active aid to navigation. However, instead of a lighthouse keeper, the keeper’s dwelling is occupied by a Coast Guard Admiral.  Surprisingly enough, he is responsible for all of the aids to navigation for the San Francisco Bay area.  The lighthouse was automated in 1958.

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