POINT PINOS LIGHTHOUSE, PACIFIC GROVE, CA: Emily Fish, Socialite Keeper

Point Pinos Lighthouse, Pacific Grove, CA

The Point Pinos lighthouse in Pacific Grove, California, (near Monterey) opened for business on February 1, 1855 and has been a guiding light for ships along the Central Pacific coast ever since. It is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse in the Western United States. On a sunny Saturday in late August, Art and I made a day trip from Oakland to visit the lighthouse. (It had been closed to visitors during the pandemic and recently opened to the public.) Walking on the grounds is free. Tickets for inside tours of the lighthouse led by volunteer docents are available in the gift shop. .

Sometime after 1899, Light Keeper Emily Fish stands near the front entrance, and her servant is to the right in the kitchen garden. Photo courtesy of Pat Hathaway Collection.

I was particularly interested in visiting the Point Pinos Lighthouse because its most famous light keeper (from 1893 to 1914) was Emily Fish, the mother of Juliet Fish Nichols, the subject of my recent picture book biography for children, KEEPER OF THE LIGHT: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog. Juliet was the light keeper at Angel Island in San Francisco Bay from 1902 to 1914. Emily and Juliet were an unusual mother/daughter light keeper duo, but with different personalities. Juliet led a quiet life at her lighthouse isolated at the bottom of a cliff on an island, whereas Emily was known as the “Socialite Keeper” due to her love of entertaining at her lighthouse.

Emily's bedroom on the second floor of the Point Pinos lighthouse.

Unlike the lighthouse at Point Knox on Angel Island, which was torn down, the Point Pinos lighthouse has been maintained both as a functioning lighthouse (now with a state-of-the-art beacon at the top) and as a historical monument. It is maintained by local volunteers. Most of the building is furnished in the style of the early 20^th century, as it would have been when Emily Fish lived there. (Emily’s belongings were lost after she retired.)

An information panel in the parlor gives a brief description of Emily: "In 1893, Mrs. Malancthon W. Fish (Emily), recently widowed, arrived to take over the job of keeper at Point Pinos. She brought her Chinese servant and a taste for the finer things in life.…Lawns, flowers, hedges, trees and fountains appeared. Fashionable furniture filled the rooms and visitors from near and far would join her for tea. She was a tough boss, going through over thirty assistants in twenty years. Retiring at 71, she and her faithful servant moved to a house in Pacific Grove, where they lived until Emily’s death in 1931."

View across Monterey Bay toward Santa Cruz from the second floor of the lighthouse.

Like keepers at other light houses, Emily recorded the weather and activities at her lighthouse in her log. Sample pages from her log are on display by the second floor window of the lighthouse, which looks out toward the sea. The lighthouse sits on a knoll that provides a good view of the water but is safely away from dangerous waves during a storm.

Sample log entry: Five ladies and a boy were cut off by high tide on the Point. Two of the party called for aid. I sent a stout plank, a rope and the laborer to get them off safely at sunset. Otherwise they would have had to remain until midnight for the low tide. July 31, 1899, Emily Fish, Keeper

Rooms at the back of the lighthouse include the kitchen and bathroom, furnished in an early 20th century style. The only room in the house not in keeping with Emily's time is upstairs over the parlor. It is devoted to WW II mementos, including a newspaper report of the sighting of Japanese submarines off the coast.

Foghorn on display in the parlor.

We were lucky to have a sunny day and clear skies on the day of our visit to the lighthouse. On foggy nights an automated horn blew to warn ships away from the rocky coast. In addition, buoys anchored in the ocean had bells that also served as warnings. 

Ocean buoy.

The buoy on display outside the lighthouse is similar to the red one located in the ocean to the north of Point Pinos. It marks the southern entrance to Monterey Bay. Normally it would have a bell and a light. Buoys warn of danger and serve as navigational tools.

Stairway to light tower. View into room with WW II mementos.

The light on top of the Point Pinos lighthouse still sends its bright beams across the bay--now from a LED lamp. It is completely automated and there is no need for a lightkeeper. The light is maintained by the Coast Guard. Visitors can peek up the narrow stairway of the light tower, but the top is closed to visitors.

Blog post on TIT about Angel Island:

ANGEL ISLAND IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY: A Trip Through Time, Sept 2017

My book KEEPER OF THE LIGHT: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog is available on Amazon.

For more about Emily Fish's daughter, Juliet Nichols, her log, Angel Island, the Point Knox Lighthouse, 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and more go to https://carolinearnoldart.blogspot.com/p/extra-material-for-keeper-of-light.html .

 

MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM: Sea Otters, Jellyfish, Octopuses and More, Monterey, CA

Jellyfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterrey, CA

In late December I went with my family to the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. At this world-famous museum, perched at the edge of Monterey Bay in a building that was once part of the real Cannery Row in the days of John Steinbeck, and now at the heart of a thriving tourist area, one can watch sea otters doing acrobatics in their giant tank, see a diver in a kelp bed, witness sharks being fed, gaze at jellyfish floating like undersea spaceships, and much much more.

Kelp Forest

We arrived early in the day, at 10:00 when the Aquarium opened, having bought our tickets ahead of time. Even so, the museum was crowded due to the holiday break and we had to be patient to get our turn at each window. Shortly after we arrived, the sea otters were being fed, but there were so many people around their tank, that we decided to return later. When we did, we got a close-up look as the otters glided past the underwater window and we were glad we waited.

Jellyfish with bioluminesence

We headed toward the popular jellyfish exhibit, stopping on the way to watch the school of sardines whirl around and around in their circular tank. I never lose my sense of wonder at the variety of shapes and colors of jellyfish and watching the delicate pulsations that propel them through the water–some of them resemble tiny lanterns and others are more like underwater hot-air balloons.

Octopus

I was particularly interested in seeing the cephalopod exhibit, new since my last visit to the Aquarium a number of years ago. Cephalopods are the group that include octopuses, squid and the chambered nautilus. At the entrance to the exhibit is a fascinating display of how these animals have been perceived in art and literature since ancient times. I had learned about the amazing ability of octopuses when I wrote my book Octopuses: Escape Artists of the Sea. In the recent movie, Finding Dory, I noticed that the octopus character, although humanized, displays many of the talents of the real animal.

Cuttlefish

On the cover of my book, Living Fossils: Clues to the Past, is a depiction of a chambered nautilus, an animal that closely resembles its ancient relatives. The chambered nautilus is only found in deep waters of the South Pacific, and although I was familiar with is beautiful shell, this was the first time I had seen it alive.

Chambered Nautiluses

One of my favorite exhibits at the Aquarium is the kelp forest, depicting the environment the otters inhabit in the bay outside the museum.  My granddaughter’s favorite is the tunnel where a giant wave washes over the see-through walls making one feel immersed in the ocean without actually getting wet. We then stopped to explore the touch-tank with its crabs and tide pool life, watch the penguins, and check out a new exhibit featuring life in Baja California. It was a beautiful day and we finished on the outdoor patio after lunch in the museum cafe, enjoying the sunshine and sea air.

Under the giant wave

One can go back to the Monterey Bay Aquarium again and again, preferably on a day when it is not so busy. But there is always something new and the exhibits are a reminder that the ocean and the life in it are an essential part of our world and need to be understood and conserved for future generations.
For our visit,we drove down for the day from the San Francisco Bay area, a one way trip of about two hours.
For directions and information about tickets to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, go to their website. The Monterey Bay Aquarium is a nonprofit institution, devoted to research, conservation and educating the public.