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Photograph of Point Bonita Lighthouse
Photograph by Allan J. Cronin, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Point Bonita Light Station

Built in 1855. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. 16 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1897.

From the record

“Point Bonita Lighthouse is a lighthouse located at Point Bonita at the San Francisco Bay entrance in the Marin Headlands. It was the last staffed lighthouse on the California coast.”

Wikipedia article Point Bonita Lighthouse, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 50 National Register listings published here for Marin County · listed in 1991 · category: District · built in 1855.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • Address. Point Bonita, Sausalito, 94965
  • When was it listed? September 1991
  • Category. district
  • Also known as. Light Stations of California MPS
  • Census division. Bolinas
  • When was it built? 1855
  • National Register reference number. 91001099 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1897 to 1993

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 96 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Point Bonita Light Station, surveyed 1993
Topographic sheet covering Point Bonita Light Station, surveyed 1897

Fires near this property

201 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 201 fires within 5 miles of Point Bonita Light Station between 1992 and 2020, burning about 92 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 7 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined79
Recreation and ceremony64
Smoking16
Equipment and vehicle use10
Arson/incendiarism7
Fireworks7
Natural5
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Debris and open burning3
Other causes2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 1994Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreGolden Gate National Recreation AreaDOYLE5
7 September 2013Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreGolden Gate National Recreation AreaSUTRO
7 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresMarin County Fire Departmentnot named
7 September 1992Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreGolden Gate National Recreation AreaLEACH
5 September 2001Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreGolden Gate National Recreation AreaALTA
4 September 2011Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz Unitnot named
3 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreGolden Gate National Recreation AreaBONITA
3 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreGolden Gate National Recreation AreaLANDS END

Every fire recorded in Marin County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Point Bonita Light Station: 5 occurrences, 2 producers, 2 unknowns, 1 prospect. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Manganese, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Gemstone, Gold, Manganese. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Angel Island DredgeSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Fort BakerGold, ManganeseOccurrence1914
Ft BakerStoneUnknown
Lime PointGemstoneOccurrence1935
Point BonitaStone, Crushed/BrokenProspect
Point Bonita Fort BarryStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
Marin Co.No.25ManganeseUnknown
Sausalito PointManganeseProducer
Sausalito Point ProspectManganeseOccurrence1918
Unnamed LocationManganeseOccurrence

Every working recorded in Marin County

Storms near this property

11 since 2017

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sausalito, the town this property stands in, in 11 storm reports between 2017 and 2023: 7 debris flow, 2 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
February 2019Debris FlowSausalito$10,000Landslide destroyed at least one home in Sausalito on Crescent Ave near Sausalito Blvd.
December 2019HailSausalito$500Heavy accumulation of small hail covered highway 101 resulting in a traffic collision.
March 2023Heavy RainSausalito$10CHP reported a large land slide blocking southbound lanes of US Highway 101 near the Waldo Grade.
January 2020Debris FlowSausalito-Mud/dirt/rocks reported on US-101 S and Marin City on ramp. Mud and dirt falling from right hand side.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindSausalito-Mesonet site (PG&E) near Sausalito recorded gusts at 70 mph.
January 2019Debris FlowSausalito-Mud slide shutdown SB 101 Waldo Grade.
February 2019Debris FlowSausalito-Mud slide on Us-101 S and Sausalito off ramp, location approx.
February 2019Debris FlowSausalito-SB US-101 at Spencer Ave off ramp slide is covering number 4 lane completely.
February 2019Debris FlowSausalito-Flooding at US-101 N at Rodeo Ave off ramp, 3-4 lanes need emergency road closure.
January 2018HailSausalito-BB sized hail.
February 2017Debris FlowSausalito-Mud slide blocking at least one lane US 101S near Robin Williams Tunnel south end.

Every storm recorded in Marin County

Maps showing this location

16 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Forts Baker, Barry, and Cronkhite3.1 miles1973
Griswold House3.3 miles1985
Sausalito Woman's Club3.6 miles1993
Marinship Machine Shop3.7 miles2016
Marin City Public Housing3.7 miles2017
William G. Barrett House3.8 miles1980

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 91001099 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Marin CountyAll 50 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.