Heceta Head Lighthouse Light is Out For Only Third Time in 130 Years of Oregon Coast History

Published 05/08/26 at 4:55 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Florence, Oregon) – What's the word for when a historical landmark makes history again?

Let's just say that it's a historical development of towering proportions. For only the third time in its whole 130 years, Heceta Head Lighthouse has been without a light. It's not shining and beaming out. Heceta Head Lighthouse is an unlit lighthouse. - Heceta Head Lighthouse, Oregon Coast

Part of its turning mechanism is broken, according to Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD). The 205-foot-high (in elevation) Oregon coast attraction has been dark since late March and it's going to be awhile longer. They're not exactly sure when that will be done and relit, but there's some progress this coming week, it seems, according to OPRD's Lauren Wirtis.

“They need new wheels that allow the lens to rotate,” Wirtis told Oregon Coast Beach Connection. “They’re currently waiting for the machinist to put in that order, which we anticipate happening this week.”

Aside from that, there's no estimate on any timeline.

Courtesy OPRD

“This is a great example of the many moving pieces that go in to running a state park and keeping the lights on - literally,.” Wirtis quipped.

It's a situation not dissimilar to what Cape Blanco Lighthouse near Port Orford had to deal with, with a temporary light because finding replacements parts for this singular, ancient technology is a bit difficult at times.

Courtesy OPRD

Park Manager Hylah Furnish and Wirtis told Oregon Coast Beach Connection the wheels are part of a motorized mechanism that rotates the lens atop them.

“The wheels are called carriage wheels and are custom out of bronze alloy made by a machinist in Eugene,” Wirtis said. “This is essentially the same system the lighthouse lens has used for over 100 years. The main difference is that instead of having to manually wind the clockworks, it’s now on a mechanical system.”

It's not like it's an everyday thing: going down to the hardware store and getting spare parts for your 130-year-old lighthouse.

Furnish described some of the intricacies and provided some photos.

Courtesy OPRD

“It’s hard to get a picture of everything since the lens is 10’ tall,” she said. “It weighs thousands of pounds and has 592 pieces of glass (most are original!). The clock works cabinet has a small motor which drives a shaft spinning the entire lens which rotates atop the carriage wheels. The light bulb is stationary inside and the lens rotate around allowing the beams to emit from the bull’s eyes in a 10 second pattern. There are 8 bull’s eyes perfectly polished and focuses the light from the tiny bulb 21 miles out to sea. The wheels roll along a circular roadbed similar to train tracks. They will always eventually wear down and these ones lasted about 13 years."

There's only been two other times the light was out, according to all the historical records found by Oregon Coast Beach Connection.

The first was February 12, 1961, when a rock slide took out electrical wires to the station. Even the backup generator failed. At the time, Oswald Allick was Keeper: he was already famous for having been the last guy aboard the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse when it closed a few years before. Surprisingly, One Man Connects Oregon Coast Lighthouses at Heceta Head, Terrible Tilly

He and two coast guard assistants employed a large lamp and turned the lens by hand, repeatedly walking around the interior of the lantern room. They diligently kept their monotonous vigil from midnight until 7:30 the next morning.

By the '90s, more parts had worn considerably, and the lens was actually leaning by six inches. The US Coast Guard proposed cutting the light altogether, but public outcries stopped that. Thus a restoration project went into action and the lighthouse went out in June 2000. It came back on March 15, 2001.

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