Point Bonita was the third lighthouse built in the state of California.

A recommendation to build a light was made as early as 1850; it took several maritime incidents for Congress to appropriate the $25,000 necessary to build the light. The first incident was when the steamship Tennessee washed ashore, fortunately no passengers were lost, the second event, the clipper ship San Francisco ran into rocks and sank, east of the point, in Bonita Cove.

Point Bonita was not the first choice of those responsible for the project; their choice was Point Lobos in San Francisco on the southwest side of the Golden Gate Bridge. Local mariners reasoned that Lobos could not be approached due to the dangerous rocks that were in the waters near the Point. In March 1853, Congress appropriated $25,000 to build the light at Point Bonita.
Of this appropriation, $7,000 was used to buy a Second Order Fresnel Lens; this Second Order Lens was the first in the state of California. There was another first; Point Bonita was the home to the first fog signal in the State of California – a cannon!

The first Lighthouse, built in 1855, had a very unique problem. It seems the site upon which the 56’ tower was built was 306’ above the sea causing the Second Order Fresnel Lens to be seriously hampered by San Francisco’s thick fog rendering the light ineffective.

In 1877, a new Lighthouse was built. The new site also had problems; in the beginning a narrow trail around the edge of the hill was used to get to the Light; however, the rough weather caused the trail to be washed away. A 118’ long hand cut tunnel was dug for access to the light.

Captain John Briercliff Brown, who served as Keeper for twenty-seven years was proud of his new Light. This new Light, being sturdier than the old, stood up to the high winds of San Francisco Bay.

In 1901 Keeper Hermann Engle took over with his wife Freda and two sons. The Engles were taken by surprise as the earthquake of 1906 awakened them at 5:15AM! While the tower stood tall, the Keeper’s home was destroyed. It took two years of living in a quonset hut before a new house was built.

A land bridge had connected the Lighthouse to the mainland; when the Coast Guard took over in 1945 a new wooden bridge and a suspension bridge took its place!

Point Bonita was the last manned Light in California automated in 1980.