SAN DIEGO – A five-ton lantern room from the former Ballast Point Lighthouse stands on Old Town’s Congress Street.
But not for long!
Come summer, the 1889 relic will be trucked to Michigan.
“That is true!” was the emphatic response from its new owner, Jeff Shook of Fenton, Michigan, founder and president of the Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy. “When our winter weather breaks, it’ll be on its way. We’ll bring it inside and see what shape it’s in before displaying it or using its structure as a needed blueprint for parts for other similar historic lanterns.”
The purchase was confirmed by its keeper for the last 26 years, Rod Cardoza of West Sea Company, a buyer and seller of nautical antiques. He admits that he and business partner wife, Becky, have had little competition since 1979 — their key to longevity.
“You can’t order these things on Amazon,” he says.
For the past 26 years, Rod Cardoza of West Sea Company in Old Town, has been keeper of the 1890 Ballast Point Lighthouse lantern room. But the structure has been bought and is leaving town. (Photo courtesy of Karen Scanlon)
With the lantern project complete, Cardoza looks forward to devoting his energies to taking on new challenges.
Cardoza acquired the Ballast Point lantern in 1999. A lantern is the top section of a lighthouse that houses the Fresnel lens from which the identifying signal is sent.
And it is where early lighthouse keepers, or “wickies,” trimmed wicks and filled oil tanks.
(Today’s lighthouses generally use LED beacons maintained by U.S. Coast Guard personnel.)
Not long after the Old Point Loma Lighthouse was constructed in 1855, it was clear that it was situated in the wrong place, in low clouds and fog — its nemesis. Two new lighthouses would be necessary to manage increased commerce steaming into this fledgling town.
In 1890, a lighthouse on Ballast Point began operation, and Point Loma Light Station was re-established closer to the sea.
Ballast Point’s combined dwelling and tower, and second dwelling, were of the Victorian stick style, winsome and beautifully tended for 70 years.
But the lighthouse itself was not the only light to be looked after.
Much of the Congress-appropriated $25,000 was also designated for establishing aids to navigation at the port entrance, channel, and bay, and south to National City.
As tide and current (and dredging) constantly altered the sandy spit of Ballast Point, so too did time and modernization. By the early 1950s, other uses for the property had begun consuming the station, bit by bit.
Demolition began in 1960. Dwellings were razed. The 900-pound fog bell was bought from the scrap yard for 5 cents a pound. (The salvager had a fuss while exhibiting it at the Maritime Museum of San Diego, and the rascal huffed off to Florida with the bell in the trunk of his car. How?)
As for the bell tower, a ham radio operator reconstructed it on private property in East County. It’s still there, mostly. And finally, the lantern room spent some 30 years in a backyard in Bonita before being transported to where it stands today, for a little while longer.
So, all you maritime and history enthusiasts, head over to West Sea Company, 2495 Congress St., and take a final peek at the red-topped, San Diego maritime treasure. It housed the lens that guided vessels up the narrow channel of San Diego Bay, years before electricity lighted the city, and beyond.
So long, old friend!
