Point Cabrillo Light Station (Images of America: California)

Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, on the rugged coast of Mendocino County in Northern California, was first lit as an aid to navigation on June 10, 1909. The light station continues to serve mariners and is regarded as one of the crown jewels of lighthouses on the West Coast. In July 1850, just north of the future site of the lighthouse, the clipper brig Frolic wrecked in its journey from China to Gold Rush era San Francisco. European settlers in search of salvage from the cargo found instead Mendocino's vast strands of virgin redwood timber stretching inland from the coast. Getting this valuable lumber to market in the mid-19th century required ships, and ships needed lighthouses to guide them. In 1909, the light known today as Point Cabrillo was built on a windswept promontory two miles north of the village of Mendocino.