Oregon Coast Icon is Back: Heceta Head Lighthouse Lit Once Again

Published 07/23/26 at 9:55 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Florence, Oregon) - As you're reading this, Heceta Head Lighthouse has been lit once again. (Photo OPRD)

For five months, the historic Oregon coast landmark has been in a situation that was monumentally historic in itself: this was apparently only the third time in its 130 years the light has been out.

Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) announced early Thursday it planned to relight the towering sentinel and that's just what happened before the work day was done.

It went down in late March without word – completely unceremoniously. OPRD staff had to dismantle parts of it to get the thing repaired. It went back up as uncelebrated as well.

“I wish we could’ve had a more formal ceremony or more notice about the relighting,” said Lauren Wirtis, OPRD spokesperson. Few park rangers and the busy season were part of that issue, she said.

Back in April, 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.

These are now replaced. Wiritis said it cost about $35,000.

Photo Keepers of Heceta Head Lightstation - the lighthouse doing its Frankenstein impression: "It's alive!"

“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.

Now, they're all just glad it's whole once again.

“We are so happy to have this iconic lighthouse back up and running and I invite everyone to come see it in person,” said Furnish. “Maintenance is a constant at Oregon State Parks, and caring for a historic lighthouse adds unique challenges, requirements, and costs.”

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.

Heceta Head Lighthouse Light is Out For Only Third Time in 130 Years of Oregon Coast History - Once in '61 and then in 2000: no repair date yet

“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 to Oregon Coast Beach Connection back in the spring.

Also coming up: the Heceta Head Lightkeeper's House BnB will undergo some refurbishing, which will mean some extra noise and activity in October, but no closures.

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