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New Dungeness Spit, a six-mile flat spit barely visible from a distance, is one of the largest natural spits in the world. Captain George Vancouver named it "New Dungeness" because it reminded him of Dungeness Point on England's southeast coast, where a light has guided mariners since around 1600. Perhaps Vancouver imagined a light someday gracing New Dungeness as well.

A half century later, in 1849, the spot was designated as a site for a lighthouse and on December 14, 1857, the light from the New Dungeness Lighthouse, the second lighthouse established in the Washington territory, was exhibited for the first time.

The original New Dungeness lighthouse was a 1 ½ story Cape Cod style duplex with a tower rising from the roof. The tower stood at 92 feet and had an unusual color pattern. The bottom half was painted white, the top half painted black, and the lantern room a bright red. The lightstation also had a fogbell, which was replaced by a steam whistle in 1873.

Nicknamed Shipwreck Spit for a reason, New Dungeness Spit also had a long history as an Indian battleground. After the lighthouse was built in 1857, the tradition continued. Perhaps showing gratitude for the light that guided them to their battles, the Indians never molested the lightkeepers.

In September 1868, Tsimshiam Indians were camping near the lighthouse on their return trip to British Columbia after earning wages picking hops in the Puyallup Valley. In the dead of night, Clallam Indians attacked the party slaughtering everyone. Or so they thought. A pregnant woman after being stabbed over 20 times, played dead while they robbed her of her bracelets and rings. She then crawled to the lighthouse for help.

New Dungeness Lighthouse with fog signal building Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

Lightkeeper William Blake and his wife Mary Ann, took the woman in and treated her wounds. The Clallam Indians came back, and after counting the bodies and coming up one short, followed the bloody trail to the lighthouse.

There was a short stand off when Blake refused the demands of the Clallams to relinquish the woman. Eventually, fearing the military might be called in, the Clallams left.

Two keepers manned the lighthouse until 1895 when two more were added. Requests were made for additional living quarters, and eventually a second keepers' quarters was built in 1905.

Over time, the tower developed structural cracks and in 1927, it was shortened by 30 feet. With the new tower dimensions, the original lantern room and lens was too large for the tower, so they were replaced by the lantern room and fourth-order lens from the decommissioned Admiralty Head. The remodeled tower was painted white from top to bottom, the same as it appears today.

A modern optic was installed in 1976, and the Fresnel apparatus turned off. Coast Guard keeper William A. Byrd wrote on that occasion: "The prism lens was turned off ... and the sparkling glass and rotating prism lens was replaced with a cold apparatus." The Fresnel lens can now be seen at the Coast Guard Museum in Seattle.

New Dungeness was the last Coast Guard manned lighthouse on the West Coast. In 1994, the last keeper left. The Coast Guard was about to board up the lighthouse when volunteers with the Coast Guard Auxiliary and members of the New Dungeness Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society set in motion a plan that has literally saved the lighthouse.

The Chapter currently leases the station from the Coast Guard and manages a program where volunteers stay at the lighthouse for a week, maintaining the structure and greeting visitors. The program has proven so popular that the reservation list is two years long.

On the evening of July 11, 1999, a volunteer keeper was watching the sunset from the lantern room when he noticed what he called a ground forest fire moving toward the station. The Coast Guard, fire department, sheriff's department and Lighthouse Society were all quickly alerted.

The volunteer turned the lawn sprinklers on and set them near the helicopter pad, the spot the fire would reach first. Those actions saved the lightstation. The sprinklers split the fire around the station. The fire reconnected 40 feet east of the main keeper's house. Every building incurred smoke damage, but none were destroyed.

New Dungeness Lighthouse is now located in the Dungeness Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is haven to more than 250 species of birds, forty-one species of land mammals, and eight species of marine mammals. No matter which route you take to the lighthouse, walking or kayaking, there is sure to be plenty of wildlife - and a friendly volunteer keeper waiting to greet you.

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References

1. Umbrella Guide to Washington Lighthouses, Sharlene and Ted Nelson, 1998.
2. Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast, Randy Leffingwell and Pamela Welty, 2000.
3. Lighthouses of the Pacific, Jim Gibbs, 1986.

If you want to hike to the lighthouse, take Kitchen-Dick Road north from Highway 101 on the west side of Sequim and follow it to the Dungeness Recreation Area. From there, it is about a 5-mile hike to the lighthouse. The lighthouse and tower are opened by the volunteers staying in the keeper's dwelling.

To spend a week at the lighthouse, you must be a member of the New Dungeness Chapter of the U.S. Lighthosue Society. Two or three couples (or some combination of 4-6 adults and a few children) serve as keepers each week. Children must be six years of age or older. The duties required of the keepers include giving tours of the light tower (74 steps), mowing the lawn, and minor upkeep duties. To check availability and to download an application form, visit the membership page for the New Dungeness Lighthouse.

If the hike seems a little too long, you can always kayak to the lighthouse. If the conditions are right, it is an easy paddle out to the lighthouse. Dungeness Kayaking offers guided lighthouse excursions.