Work begins to protect historic SLO County lighthouse lens. What’s next?
Work started Monday on a project to apply film to a tall glass structure surrounding the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse lens to protect it from ultraviolet light.
Most of the work by San Luis Customs, including applying the 3M film to the high sections of the lens, had been done by Wednesday from a scissor lift.
The film application is the first of many steps toward increasing the safety of the rare First Order Fresnel lens, which is located on San Luis Obispo County property adjacent to Cambria’s Veterans Memorial Building on Main Street, and the people who go see it.
“We’ve known this was coming,” San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Bruce Gibson said in May 2022. “It’s a remarkable piece of history, and I’m optimistic this will be available for the public to see in this county for a long time … We have to figure out how to make that happen.”
History of Piedras Blancas lighthouse lens
According to the Historical Marker Data Base, the First Order Fresnel lens was manufactured in 1850 in France by Henry LaPaute, while the clock mechanism was built in 1872.
The lens was installed atop the lighthouse at Piedras Blancas about 6.5 miles north of San Simeon in 1874, the database said.
The U.S. Coast Guard removed the lens in 1949 because it and its lantern room were so heavy that they were causing damage to the tower below. The Lions Club of Cambria has cared for the lens ever since.
Other lights have replaced the lens, fulfilling its mission of alerting mariners to rocks, shoals and other hazards in the area.
The Coast Guard owns the historic Piedras Blancas lighthouse and the Piedras Blancas Light Station, plus the 456 acres of protected land around it. That land is known as Piedras Blancas National Monument and is part of the California Coastal National Monument.
All those properties, the tower and other structures are managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management.
Archivists from the Coast Guard have long maintained that the tall glass enclosure around the Piedras Blancas lighthouse lens was not protecting it properly.
In May 2022, county officials declared that the building wasn’t safe for people to be around due to rust and deterioration in the metal pieces that connect the glass panels.
The Lions Club then commissioned a tall, chain-link safety fence around the lens and its enclosure.
What’s next for historic lighthouse lens?
A coalition of government and nonprofit representatives, along with individuals concerned about the future of the lens, have been meeting since mid-2022 to determine how to keep the lens safe, where its ultimate home should be and who should be in charge.
Gibson has led those sessions, most of which which included Coast Guard national curator Arlyn Danielson.
The agency places high value on Fresnel lenses.
The nonprofit Pinedorado Lions Club Foundation is at the forefront of fundraising efforts.
So far, the group has amassed $118,000 of the $133,000 needed for immediate preservation efforts.
Current needs include reducing sun damage on the lens with UV film, and Wellsona Iron’s replacement of some rusty, damaged structural elements in the enclosure, thereby reinforcing the metal supporting the glass building that houses and displays the lens.
“We expect that will eliminate the rust issue,” foundation treasurer Scot Addis said Sept. 28. “Wellsona will also add some extra strengthening crossmembers to the structure.”
Some major donations came from the Cambria and San Simeon tourism boards, the Piedras Blancas Light Station Association, the Cambria Community Council and individual donors.
More money is needed along with input and commitments from people interested in preserving and protecting the rare artifact.
Tax deductible donations marked for the lens project can be sent to the Pinedorado Lions Club Foundation.
“We hope the strengthened structure will last at least another five years or so,” Addis said.
