Cape Mendocino Lighthouse is a lighthouse

Lighthouse

A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

 in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

,
United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, off Shelter Cove

Shelter Cove, California

Shelter Cove is a census-designated place in Humboldt County, California. It lies at an elevation of 138 feet . Shelter Cove is on California's Lost Coast. Lying where the King Range meets the Pacific Ocean, it is a principal population center in the Lost Coast region...

 near Point Delgado, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. The 43 feet (13.1 m) tower had the highest focal plane at 422 feet (128.6 m) in the U.S.

This exceeded the 420 feet (128 m) Makapuu Point Light

Makapuu Point Light

The Makapuu Point Light on the island of Oahu has the largest lens of any lighthouse in the United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.-History:...

 (which has a hyperradiant Fresnel lens

Hyperradiant Fresnel lens

Hyper-radial or hyperradiant Fresnel lenses are Fresnel lenses larger than "first order" lenses. They have a focal length of 1330 mm. The idea was mentioned by Thomas Stevenson in 1869 and first proposed by John Richardson Wigham in 1872, and again proposed by Thomas Stevenson in 1885.The...

, the only one of its kind and the largest lens in the United States).

History

The light at Cape Mendocino was activated on December 1, 1868. The United States Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

 took control of the Cape Mendocino Lighthouse in 1939 when the United States Lighthouse Service

United States Lighthouse Service

The United States Lighthouse Service, also known as the Bureau of Lighthouses, was the agency of the US Federal Government that was responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of all lighthouses in the United States from the time of its creation in 1910 until 1939...

 merged with it. The light was automated by the Coast Guard in 1951 and then abandoned in the 1970s. The old 1868 lighthouse was relocated in 1998 to Shelter Cove, and the original first order Fresnel lens

Fresnel lens

A Fresnel lens is a type of lens originally developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel for lighthouses.The design allows the construction of lenses of large aperture and short focal length without the mass and volume of material that would be required by a lens of conventional design...

 was transferred to a replica in Ferndale, California

Ferndale, California

Ferndale is a city in Humboldt County, California, United States. Known for its well-preserved Victorian buildings, the city's population was 1,371 at the 2010 census, down from 1,382 at the 2000 census...

where it sits in a replica tower at the entrance of the Humboldt County Fairgrounds. In 1998 a group of volunteers dismantled the lighthouse and reassembled it in Mal Coombs Park in Shelter Cove, California.
40.4401316°N 124.4069999°W