WayfarrowWashington Lighthouse Road Trip: 8 Lights, About 7 Hours of Driving
8 stops199 milesabout 7 hr 25 min of drivingWashington
This route strings together eight lighthouses on Puget Sound. It starts at Browns Point in Pierce County and finishes at Point Wilson in Jefferson County, with stops in Thurston, King, Snohomish and Island counties along the way. It covers 199 miles, with about seven and a half hours of driving across seven legs, so it works as one long day or spreads easily over two. The towers span more than half a century, from West Point's 1881 light to Dofflemyer Point's 1934 concrete pyramid, and several replaced older lanterns on posts or stakes. Two of them, Mukilteo and Admiralty Head, are Carl Leick designs, and Admiralty Head has been dark since 1922. Six of the eight are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Start early, keep the leg times in mind, and check access locally for each site before you set out, since the records here describe the lights, not visiting arrangements.
Route and drive times from OpenStreetMap routing (OSRM). Times are estimates without stops; roads to remote sites can be unpaved or seasonal.
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1. Browns Point Light
Pierce County, Washington · built 1933
Steven Pavlov / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 The route opens in Pierce County at a light that began as a post lantern in 1887 and moved up to a wooden tower in 1903. The current tower is a 34-ft Art Deco concrete structure from 1933, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its white light flashes every five seconds and has a range of 12 nautical miles over Puget Sound.
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↓ 44.1 miles, about 1 hr 12 min
2. Dofflemyer Point Light
Thurston County, Washington · built 1934
Keegan Webber / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 About 72 minutes and 44.1 miles on, in Thurston County, Dofflemyer Point traces back to an 1887 lens lantern on a stake. A 30-ft pyramidal concrete tower replaced that lantern in 1934. It flashes white every six seconds, reaches 7 nautical miles, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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↓ 51.9 miles, about 1 hr 42 min
3. Point Robinson Light
King County, Washington · built 1915
bengrey / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 Expect about 102 minutes for the 51.9-mile drive to Point Robinson in King County. The station started in 1884 to 1885 as a fog-signal station, with earlier light towers before the current one. Today's 38-ft octagonal tower dates from 1915 and is a twin of Alki Point Light, the next stop. It's National Register listed and shows two white flashes every 12 seconds.
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↓ 19.8 miles, about 1 hr 1 min
4. Alki Point Light
King County, Washington · built 1913
Liza Phoenix / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0 Point Robinson's twin, Alki Point Light, is 19.8 miles and about an hour (61 minutes) further on. The station started in 1887 as a lantern on a post, and the 37-ft octagonal brick tower was finished in 1913. The record lists it as still an active light, with a white flash every five seconds and a 16-nautical-mile range.
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↓ 15.3 miles, about 40 min
5. West Point Light
King County, Washington · built 1881
Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 Some 40 minutes and 15.3 miles later, West Point Light stands in Seattle's Discovery Park. This squat 23-ft tower was first lit on November 15, 1881, and in 1985 it became the last light station in Washington to be automated. It alternates white and red on a 10-second cycle, reaches 16 nautical miles, and is listed on the National Register.
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↓ 28.4 miles, about 56 min
6. Mukilteo Light
Snohomish County, Washington
Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 Carl Leick designed the wooden tower at Mukilteo, in Snohomish County, about 56 minutes and 28.4 miles from West Point. Construction began in August 1905 and it was first lit on March 1, 1906, so sources split on the build year. The 38-ft light flashes white every five seconds, is National Register listed, and has belonged to the City of Mukilteo since 2001.
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↓ 30.2 miles, about 1 hr 6 min
7. Admiralty Head Light
Island County, Washington · built 1903
This Photo was taken by Timothy A. Gonsalves. Feel free to use my photos, but please mention me as the author. I would much appreciate if you send me an email [email protected] or write on my talk pag / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 Another Carl Leick design comes next on Whidbey Island, roughly 66 minutes and 30.2 miles on. Built in 1903 of brick and stucco, Admiralty Head replaced an 1861 wooden lighthouse. Its light sat 131 ft above the water until it was turned off in 1922, and the tower is now preserved in Fort Casey Historical State Park.
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↓ 9.8 miles, about 49 min
8. Point Wilson Light
Jefferson County, Washington · built 1914
Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 The final leg is only 9.8 miles, but it's listed at 49 minutes, so allow for that. Point Wilson's 46-ft octagonal tower dates from 1914 and replaced an 1879 wooden tower on the keeper's house roof, which was then removed. Its occulting white and red light reaches 15 nautical miles. The National Register-listed site is threatened by shoreline erosion.
Every stop on this route links to its own page with coordinates, sourced facts and image licences. The text above was written from those records and checked against them before publishing. More lighthouses: all lighthouses in Washington.