Rockin’ the Boat to Save the Lighthouse

Rockin’ the Boat to Save the Lighthouse

Former coal-oil-burner Trinidad Light shone out to mariners headed for home port

PETROLIA might RATTLE
McKinleyville may prattle
But in Trinidad they battle
To save the Lighthouse dear

Eureka dredges Humboldt Bay
While Arcata rescues Market Day
Weaverville firemen clear the way
So folks can go back home dear

One-lane traffic on 299
Get your gear packed well before time
You won’t get much of a warnin’ sign
Tsunami incoming, dear
Sidereal Musing 2017

Trinidad Civic Club’s Memorial Lighthouse site is a sacred one, erected on a small piece of land donated to the club in 1948 by Earl and Neva Hallmark, who in 1946 built the redwood pier at the Harbor. It was to play an important role in the lives of commercial and sport fishermen, and supported the ocean-going life of Trinidad until its steel replacement, which handles marine traffic today.

Synchronously, the Memorial Lighthouse stands on an overlook of the Bluff down towards the sacred burial ground and Yurok village of Tsurai—home to generations of First People—on Old Home Beach. The Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse and the ancient village setting are a reminder of how preservation of sacred places can exist together. The Yurok Tribe are supportive of the Lighthouse preservation fund.

Lighting the Way for a Future of Memories

WWII Danforth anchor, 1898 decommissioned bell—which strikes every day at noon—flank the endangered Lighthouse

Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse, constructed in 1949 to house the 1912 coal oil lantern, was decommissioned by the Coast Guard when the electric light was installed at the Trinidad Head Lighthouse in 1974. The area also accommodates the two-ton 1898 bronze bell decommissioned at the same time when automation came to the Bell House on Trinidad Head, pictured below right.

Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse, a replica of the 1871 Trinidad Head Lighthouse, was built by Trinidad Civic Club on a 45ft. x 50ft. parcel of the Bluff donated by Earl and Neva Hallmark in 1948 and dedicated on June 26, 1949. The lighthouse contains a 1912 coal oil Fresnel lantern, the last one of its kind, decommissioned from use by the United States Coast Guard on the Pacific Coast. It was previously installed in the Trinidad Head Lighthouse.

Later, the World War II USS Danforth anchor, recovered from the bay, was added to the site, and a bronze plaque reading “In loving memory to those who perished at sea. They shall live forever in our hearts” was dedicated May 30, 1970.

The site on the Bluff at Edwards and Trinity Streets also holds the 1898 4,000-pound bronze fog bell moved from the fog Bell House on Trinidad Head, pictured below. It also serves as a Memorial Wall engraved with the names of 238 individuals Lost or Buried at Sea. An annual Memorial Naming ceremony is held on the last Sunday of May commemorating and honoring those named, since 1995.

Lighthouse & former Coastguard cottages on Trinidad Head—foghorn & automated light remain

TRINIDAD City leaders and Civic Club have agreed in principle to raise $40,000-$50,000 to move the Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse a few yards away, outside the threatened landslide area.

Council and Civic Club are working together with professional geologists to complete the move by October 2017, before the onset of the rainy season.

Foundation Realignment or Shoring Up?
Civic Club President Dana Hope informed the City Council that her group would accept any stopgap financing, to be secured via fundraising which included online solicitation. $40,000-$50,000 in ‘seed money’ is contingent on how much more Trinidad Council can secure in financing from California’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

OES funding is reckoned likely, but FEMA’s response is ‘pending’—an understandable statement, given their current clean-up operations in Florida and Texas after two hurricanes.

Tiny Trinidad Head Lighthouse, left distance, with functioning foghorn, foreground

The slope underpinning both the Lighthouse and Edwards Street, town thoroughfare that passes just north of the lighthouse steps, need long-term reinforcement. Construction costs range from $100,000 to $1 million, according to a recent engineering report, based on drill borings, readings from slope inclinometers and aerial and field mapping, compiled over last six months by SHN Consulting Engineers & Geologists, Eureka.

Plight of the Lighthouse has attracted national and international attention and that interest is starting to pay off.

A Preservation Fund has already been set up and gifts and donations of any size are flowing in here. U.S. taxpayers may make tax-deductible donations by check for the Lighthouse Preservation Fund to

Trinidad Civic Club
for The Lighthouse Preservation Fund
P.O. Box 295
Trinidad, CA 95570

Those wishing to add a named donation, or gift on behalf of a loved one already buried at sea may wish to use this avenue of funding.

If you want to give anonymously, or make a large (private) amount, you may email for more information to memoriallighthouse@gmail.com.

Trinidad Civic Club, in cooperation with Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Coast Guard, arranges free tours of Trinidad Head Lighthouse throughout the year—a strenuous walk around ‘The Head’, but worth it. Discussion is ongoing to find the most reasonable and cost-effective solution before the rainy season.
©2017 Marian Youngblood