The hazardous obstacle course of the Pacific Northwest’s most important waterway linking Puget Sound to the Strait of Juan de Fuca prompted the United States Congress, in 1856, to appropriate the funds to build a much-needed lighthouse on Whidbey Island. The Red Bluff Lighthouse, a wooden Cape Cod style lighthouse, first shone its beacon on January 21, 1861. In 1903, the United States Army Corps of Engineers built a new lighthouse to replace the original. The beautiful Spanish style Admiralty Head Lighthouse began operations on June 25.

Times were changing and steamships had for the most part replaced sailing ships in and around Puget Sound. On July 1, 1922, after only 19 years of faithful service, Admiralty Head was decommissioned.

After World War II, Admiralty Head stood vacant, a victim of neglect and vandalism. New life came to the lighthouse in 1957 when the Island County Historical Society, in conjunction with the Washington State Parks, undertook a massive renovation of the lighthouse that included the reconstruction of the iron and glass lantern room.

Today, under the tutelage of the Washington State University Beach Waters and Waste Warriors program, the lighthouse is open to the public.