Visit Point Arena

Point Arena is a small coastal town on the meandering Shoreline of Highway One in southern Mendocino County, California.

Interesting Facts:

Pt Arena - photo copyright Danielle Brown

Small town charm! Point Arena is a small coastal town in Mendocino County and is one of the smallest incorporated cities in the state with a population of less than 500 people!
Erected in 1870, destroyed by the 1906 earthquake, and rebuilt the following year, the Point Arena lighthouse was the first to be made of steel and concrete.
Hard work! Prior to the introduction of electricity, the lens was rotated by a clockwork mechanism. The lighthouse keepers had to hand crank a 160 pound weight up the center shaft of the lighthouse every 75 minutes to keep the lens turning.
At 115 feet, the Point Arena Lighthouse shares the title of being the tallest lighthouse on the West coast of the United States with the Pigeon Point Lighthouse to the south!
The lighthouse is also the closest location on the mainland (excluding Alaska) to Honolulu, Hawaii at a distance of 2,045 nautical miles.
Pt. Arena was once scheduled to be the site of a PG&E nuclear power plant, but the discovery that it was so close to the San Andreas earthquake fault, and public opposition, fortunately put an end to that plan.
For more information, please visit: http://www.pointarenalighthouse.com/