HECETA HEAD LIGHT

 NPS photo by Ralph Eshelman, 1995

Heceta Head's light first shone in March of 1894, 205 feet above sea level and visible for over 21 miles. One thousand barrels of blasting powder were required to create a flat table on the rocky cliffs. Heceta remained an extremely isolated outpost until the 1930's when road crews arrived with their families and tents to construct Route 101, the Pacific Coast Highway.

The area is named for Captain Don Bruno de Heceta of the Spanish Royal Navy, an explorer whose expedition passed along the Oregon coast around 1775.

Ghost stories are a staple of lighthouse lore. The 103-year-old Heceta Head Lighthouse, on the central Oregon coast, claims an active resident spirit.

Custodians say a ghost -- believed to be the mother of a girl who fell off the cliffs and died -- occupies the white gingerbread-trim keeper's house. She is said to turn lights on and off and pace the floorboards, particularly in the attic, where a latched window is often found mysteriously open.

The U.S. Forest Service owns the property and operates the house as a bed and breakfast, offering visitors a sense of how 19th century lighthouse keepers lived -- and perhaps of things that go bump in the night.

State: OREGON
Location: NORTH OF SIUSLAW RIVER
Nearest City: FLORENCE
Existing Historic Tower:

Previous Tower(s): N/A

Modern Tower? NO

Existing Sound Signal Building? YES

Existing Keepers Quarters? YES

Other Structures: 2 OIL HOUSES (1 NOW SERVES AS GENERATOR HOUSE), GARAGE/HORSE BARN; 1 OF 1893 KEEPERS WAS RAZED

Current Use: ACTIVE AID TO NAVIGATION IN NATIONAL FOREST; KEEPERS SERVES AS B&B

Owner/Manager: U.S. FOREST SERVICE (KEEPERS)/OREGON STATE PARKS & RECREATION W/USCG ACCESS TO OPTIC

Open to the Public?

National Register Status: LISTED Reference #78002296
Name of Listing: HECETA HEAD LIGHTHOUSE & KEEPERS QUARTERS
On State List/Inventory? YES; Year Listed: 1970

Miscellaneous:

ADJACENT TO DEVILS ELBOW STATE PARK; KEEPERS RESTORED BY SIUSLAW NATIONAL FOREST 1980-1983