An 1855 Cape Cod-style lighthouse decommissioned in 1891 because fog and clouds obscured its high-elevation light — now a Cabrillo National Monument museum with persistent reports of its final keeper, Robert Decatur Israel.
1800 Cabrillo Memorial Drive, San Diego, CA 92106
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Cabrillo National Monument entry fee covers lighthouse access; $20/vehicle as of 2024. National Park passes accepted. Tower interior open two days per year (August 25 NPS birthday, November 15 Lighthouse anniversary).
Access
Limited Access
Cape Cod-style lighthouse with steep narrow stairs in the keeper's quarters; tower stairs are narrow and not accessible
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1855 · Eighth lighthouse on the U.S. West Coast · Active 1855-1891 (36 years) · Highest-elevation lighthouse on the West Coast at decommissioning · Part of Cabrillo National Monument (designated 1913) · Final keeper Robert Decatur Israel (1873-1891)
The United States government began construction of the Point Loma Lighthouse in 1854, less than four years after California was admitted as a state. The Cape Cod-style structure — a small two-story keeper's quarters with a central tower rising through the roof to the lantern room — was designed for the kind of fog-free coastline more typical of New England than of San Diego.
The light was first lit on November 15, 1855, by initial keeper James P. Keating. Sitting 462 feet above sea level on the southern tip of Point Loma, the light was theoretically visible for nearly 40 miles in clear conditions — among the highest-elevation lighthouses in the United States. The elevation turned out to be the design's fatal flaw: low marine fog and cloud cover frequently blanketed Point Loma below the lantern room, leaving ships without a usable light.
Robert Decatur Israel (March 23, 1826 – January 12, 1908), a Pittsburgh-born veteran of the U.S.-Mexican War, served as assistant keeper from 1871 and as principal keeper from 1873 until decommissioning in 1891 — eighteen years total. He lived in the keeper's quarters with his wife Maria Arcadia Alipas Machado and their four children. Israel was the lighthouse's final keeper.
On March 23, 1891 — by coincidence Israel's 65th birthday — the new Point Loma Lighthouse was lit at a lower elevation closer to the shore, and the old lighthouse was decommissioned. Israel was reassigned and died in 1908 at age 81. He is buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.
The lighthouse fell into disrepair through the early 20th century. President Woodrow Wilson included it in the original Cabrillo National Monument designation in 1913. The National Park Service has operated it since 1933 and completed a major restoration in 1935, with subsequent restorations preserving it in its 1880s appearance — the period when Israel was keeper. The tower's lantern room and Fresnel lens optic remain in place.
Sources
Robert Decatur Israel served as keeper of the Old Point Loma Lighthouse for 18 years — from his initial assignment as assistant keeper in 1871 through the station's final lighting on March 23, 1891. Local lore, documented in OB Rag, Ghost City Tours, and the broader San Diego paranormal literature, holds that Israel was deeply attached to the station and reluctant to leave when the new lighthouse opened at a lower elevation. He is the most-named figure in the keeper's quarters reports.
NPS staff and visitors describe heavy boot footsteps on the upper floor of the keeper's quarters when the building is otherwise empty — particularly in the children's bedroom and the small upstairs storage area. Cold spots are reported near the staircase to the tower and in the kitchen by the cast-iron stove. Visitors have described the sensation of being closely watched while standing alone in the parlor, with the feeling fading when others enter.
A frequently reported phenomenon involves the lantern room: visitors and tour guides have described a soft glow visible in the lantern room from the grounds outside on certain evenings, despite the lighthouse being unlit. The reports are not consistent enough to be daily, but they recur and have been informally logged by NPS interpretive staff over decades.
Other phenomena include heavy breathing reported near the tower stair, doors gently closing on their own in the keeper's quarters, and items in the period-furnished bedrooms found rearranged in small ways overnight. The OB Rag 2022 feature on the lighthouse compiled multiple first-person accounts from rangers, volunteers, and visitors.
Israel died on January 12, 1908, at age 81 — sixteen years after his lighthouse was retired. He is buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery just a few miles from the keeper's quarters. The site's haunted reputation is gentle: witnesses describe a presence that seems to be working rather than threatening.
Notable Entities
Walk through the restored 1855 keeper's quarters set up to recreate the Israel family's domestic life in the 1880s — kitchen, parlor, bedrooms, and interpretive signage on lighthouse keeping in the pre-electrification era. Open daily.
Cabrillo National Monument surrounds the lighthouse, with panoramic views of San Diego Bay, the Cabrillo statue, tide pools on the western shore, and Bayside Trail. Allow several hours to combine the lighthouse with the broader park.
The lighthouse tower interior — including the lantern room — opens to the public on the NPS birthday (August 25) and the lighthouse's anniversary of first lighting (November 15). Lines form early; this is the only chance to see the lantern room from the inside.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Mammoth Cave, KY
Mammoth Cave is the world's longest known cave system with over 426 surveyed miles of passages. The cave was developed as a tourist site beginning in the 1810s and is internationally significant for the work of enslaved African American guide Stephen Bishop, who mapped much of the system in the 1840s and 1850s. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve.
Gatlinburg, TN
Great Smoky Mountains National Park preserves 522,427 acres of southern Appalachian terrain across Tennessee and North Carolina. The land was the heart of the Cherokee Nation before forced removal in 1838 along what became the Trail of Tears, and home to Appalachian Scots-Irish and English settler communities through the early twentieth century. Congress authorized the park in 1926; it was formally dedicated by Franklin D. Roosevelt on September 2, 1940.
Los Angeles, CA
The Hollywoodland sign was erected in 1923 as a real estate advertisement for a hillside development. The word 'LAND' was removed in 1949 when the city took ownership. On September 16, 1932, actress Peg Entwistle climbed to the top of the 'H' and jumped, dying from multiple pelvic fractures. She was 24 years old. The Griffith Observatory opened in 1935 on the ridge below, offering direct views of the sign from its observation deck.