Point Bonita Lighthouse

Point Bonita Lighthouse stands on a rocky headland at the entrance to San Francisco Bay, in the Marin Headlands of Marin County, near Sausalito, California. It is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, was the last staffed lighthouse on the California coast until 1980, and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1991.

History of Point Bonita Lighthouse

During the Gold Rush more than 300 ships ran aground near the Golden Gate, and the entrance to the bay badly needed a light. Point Bonita became the third lighthouse in the Bay Area. The first brick tower, 56 feet (17 m) tall, was built in 1855 at 306 feet (93 m) above the sea and fitted with a second-order Fresnel lens. The site turned out to be a poor one: the high West Coast fog often hid the light from ships.

In 1877 the lighthouse was moved down to a ledge 124 feet (38 m) above the water. Reaching it meant cutting a 118-foot (36 m) tunnel through solid rock by hand. Point Bonita also had the first fog signal on the West Coast, a 24-pounder siege gun, later replaced by a bell and then a siren.

The entrance stayed dangerous even with the light. The worst disaster came in 1901, when the steamer City of Rio de Janeiro struck rocks at the Golden Gate in fog and sank within minutes, with about 128 lives lost.

The light was automated in 1980 and its last keeper left. Today the US Coast Guard maintains the light and fog signal, and the historic Fresnel lens is still in use; the light can be seen about 18 nautical miles out to sea.

Keepers and the life-saving station

The keepers' quarters stood next to the lighthouse. The work was hard and isolated, so in the late 19th and early 20th centuries some keepers brought their families. Children playing outside were reportedly tied into harnesses on ropes so that a gust of wind or a runaway ball would not send them over the cliff.

The government approved life-saving stations at the Golden Gate in 1874, but work on the Point Bonita station only began in 1899. It had a residence, cisterns, sheds, a garage and walkways, and rough swells and steep ground delayed the building. Eight to ten men crewed the station with a heavy lifeboat and a lighter surfboat. Their motto was said to be: "You have to go out, but you don't have to come back."

The suspension bridge and the tunnel

At first a trail along a narrow ridge led to the light, but by the 1940s erosion and landslides had destroyed it. After a temporary wooden walkway, a suspension bridge was built in 1954, making Point Bonita the only lighthouse in the United States reached solely by a suspension bridge. It was repaired in 1979 and 1991, closed in January 2010 because of rust from sea spray, and replaced on April 13, 2012, by a new bridge of tropical hardwood on steel cables that cost over a million dollars. In 2024 the bridge was closed again for repairs with no announced reopening date.

Getting there and visitor tips

The lighthouse is in the Marin Headlands, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. From the parking area at the Point Bonita trailhead, a short, steep trail leads through the tunnel to an overlook above the bridge; more parking is at Battery Alexander. Restrooms are only at the parking lot, none at the lighthouse. Bikes and dogs are not allowed on the trail, and the slopes are too steep for wheelchairs.

The lighthouse itself opens only on limited days and hours, in the past on Sunday and Monday afternoons and on ranger-led sunset walks by sign-up; at other times a metal door closes the tunnel. Check the schedule and the state of the bridge with the National Park Service before you go.

Nearby are the former army post of Fort Barry with Battery Mendell and Battery Alexander, Rodeo Beach, and the Lagoon and Coastal Trails with views over the Pacific. The Marin Headlands are also home to the endangered Mission Blue butterfly.