Point Arena Light

Point Arena Light is a lighthouse in Mendocino County, California, United States, two miles (3 km) north of Point Arena, California. It is located approximately north of San Francisco in the Fort Point Group of lighthouses. The lighthouse features a small museum and giftshop. Guided tours of the light station as well as self-guided tours of the grounds are available daily.GeographyThe first European to record Point Arena was Spaniard Bartolomé Ferrer in 1543, who named it Cabo de Fortunas (Spanish for "cape of fortunes"). The cape was renamed to Punta Delgado (narrow point) in 1775 by lieutenant Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra (commander of the schooner Sonora), part of a royal expedition chartered by the government of Mexico to map the north coast of Alta California. Later the point, and the small harbor town south of it, were called Barra de Arena (i.e. sandbar) and finally Point Arena (literally "sand point"). Point Arena is a narrow peninsula jutting around 1/2 mile (800 m) into the Pacific Ocean. This sandbar creates a natural hazard to navigation, and hence the need for a lighthouse and fog signal here.