The tallest lighthouse in Washington
The Grays Harbor Lighthouse — the Westport Light — is the tallest lighthouse in Washington at 107 feet, and the third tallest on the West Coast. Carl Leick designed it, construction started in 1897, and it was dedicated and first lit on 30 June 1898. It has been working ever since. It was built to last on a coast that tests things. The walls are four feet thick at the base and taper to eighteen inches at the top, and the 135 cast-iron steps inside were cast by Patrick Dundon at the San Francisco Boiler Works and are still the ones you climb. The original third-order clamshell Fresnel lens was made in Paris in 1895; the light flashed red and white to mark the harbor opening and could be seen twenty-three miles out on a clear night. It went on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and in 2004 ownership passed to the Westport-South Beach Historical Society, who run it alongside the Maritime Museum. Seasonal tours go up the tower. The grounds and the view of it are free any day of the year.
More things to do in Westport & Grayland
Johns River Pioneer Cemetery · North Cove Pioneer Cemetery · Ocosta Cemetery · Point Chehalis · Tokeland Hotel · Tokeland Marina