POINT ROBINSON LIGHTHOUSE
Maury Island
Puget Sound, Washington
Point Robinson Lighthouse is tucked away in a very out of the way place. I got up early one morning and first drove to Brown's Point in Federal Way. It is just down the road from my friend's house where I was staying. Next, I headed over to Ruston and caught the ferry over to Vashon Island and drove up to Portage, then turned down into Maury Island. You can drive right down to the lighthouse. It is a park, I think. No one was around when I went, but then it was cold and rainy. I guess I caught some blue sky.
There was a fog signal (first a steam whistle, now a horn) here in 1885, and they had hung a lantern at the site in 1887. But not until 1915, did they build the tower for the light. It stood 38 feet high and placed the focal plane at 40 feet above the water. That same year it was lit and shone forth through a 5th order Fresnel lens. The original lens is still intact and continues to mark the point. They automated Point Robinson in 1978.
Here's how I saw it:
OF THE MOUNTAINS
John B Caddell
Copyright 2001