Another Stop On Mike Nelson's Virtual Tour of San Diego
Cabrillo National Monument -- Sunday Surprise

February 21, 1999, was an absolutely gorgeous San Diego day, so I took a trip out to Cabrillo National Monument after church. As usual, I packed my Sony, Mavica 91 digital camera along because who knows what will turn up. After walking around and catching a couple of pictures of Navy ships coming into port, I headed up to the Lighthouse just to enjoy the view.

As I walked in, I noticed that the glass door to the kitchen was open and roped off. Hmmm... I'd never seen that before... and then as I stepped into the doorway, I noticed the rocking chair in a different position than usual with what I thought was a mannequin sitting in it. I was a bit startled when it MOVED!! Yes, it was a real live woman showing off the finest fashion of the '80s--the 1880s, that is!!! It turned out that she is a volunteer and drives down from Redlands, CA, [a two hour drive] at least once a month. She often gets the opportunity to gussy up and show off some of the finery of the period.

I asked her if I could take a couple of pictures and post them to my website and she agreed... so here they are!! Unfortunately, these pictures just don't do justice in showing how pretty and gracious she was!! By the way, she is quite an expert in knowledge about the history of the Lighthouse.

Here is the second picture. The top picture was taken using the built-in flash while this one was taken with available light. Neither picture was retouched except to resize them to take up less disk space. Click on either picture to see a larger view.

But I digress... She explained a lot of things that I was not aware of about the lighthouse itself. You know, those kinds of things that you hear as answers on Jeopardy! :) And the answer is:

• The lighthouse was not painted white until the mid-1880s.
• The biggest problem with the lighthouse was inadequate water supply. Even though there was a cistern under the house and one just east of the house, there was never enough water. The only water that was available was either rainwater or brought in by wagon.
• There are no wells on the point.
• Unlike most lighthouses, Cabrillo historically had a lot of visitors from San Diego.
• The lighthouse is made out of adobe. Therefore it is actually quite warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

Visit the Cabrillo National Monument's official webpage by clicking here.

This page was last updated on 02/28/1999.

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