Admiralty Head Lighthouse – Coupeville, Washington
The sea traffic into Seattle that travel on the Pacific must pass along the Strait of San Juan de Fuca, which separates the Olympic Peninsula and Canada’s Vancouver Island, and then it requires a turn south to navigate through Admiralty Inlet before reaching Puget Sound. There are two points that define the entrance to Admiralty Inlet from the Strait, Point Wilson on the west and Admiralty Head on the east. There were Lighthouses placed on both of these points to guide shipping safely to their destination. Today there is the Keystone-Port Townsed ferry that connects landings located near these two points which provide a quick link between the northwestern part of the state and the Olympic Peninsula.
Sitting on 80 foot bluffs that drop into the inlet is Admiralty Head. The first Admiralty Lighthouse (Red Bluff Lighthouse) was built during the second half of 1860 and became operational on January 21, 1861. It was a two story wooden structure painted white with the light tower rising like a church steeple from one end of the pitched roof building. This was light with a fourth-order Fresnel lens. 19 years later there would be a companion light established at Point Wilson across the bay.
During the Spanish-American War era the land near the lighthouse was acquired by the government to establish Fort Casey. This was a good location allow friendly ships in but to also keep enemy ships out of the area.
The wooden lighthouse stood at a great location for one of the fort’s gun emplacements. A new lighthouse was constructed just north of the fort and the original lighthouse was moved away from the bluff so that its rooms could be used to house noncommissioned officers and, for a short time, a temporary medical clinic. In 1928 the old lighthouse was torn down and the lumber used to build a house on Whidby Island.
The second lighthouse was built in a Spanish style and included a two-story dwelling linked to the base of the circular tower for the lighthouse manager to live in. It is a three bedrooms, kitchen, dining room and living room area. The lighthouse was activated in 1903.
In 1922 the light was extinguished in the lighthouse due to the lack of need for it any longer. The bulk of the marine traffic was powered by steam at this time, rather than wind, so the modern vessels hugged the western side of the inlet. The lantern room was removed and placed atop the newly reconstructed tower of the New Dungeness Lighthouse.
During WWII the lighthouse was reactivated as living quarters. Following the war the lighthouse was empty again until the Island County Historical Society initiated a restoration effort. A replacement lantern room was built for the tower using vertical astragals.
Today the lighthouse is a gift shop and museum for you to visit.
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