Battery Point Light was one of the first lighthouses on the California coast . Rugged mountains and unbridged rivers meant coastal travel was essential for the economic survival of this region . In 1855 , Congress appropriated $ 15,000 for the construction of a lighthouse on the tiny islet , which is connected to Battery Point by an isthmus which is visible , and can be traversed on foot , at low tide . Although not included in the 1852 contract by the United States Lighthouse Service for the first eight west coast lighthouses , the Battery Point Lighthouse was actually lit ten days before the Humboldt Harbor Lighthouse , the last of the original eight to become operational . The fourth-order Fresnel lens was lit in 1856 . The lighthouse was automated in 1953 , and a modern lens replaced the fourth-order Fresnel lens . Theophilis Magruder was the station 's first keeper ; Wayne Piland was its last before automation in 1953 . The 1964 Alaska earthquake , the strongest earthquake ever recorded in the northern hemisphere , caused a tsunami . The lighthouse survived . In the following year , the modern beacon that replaced the Fresnel lens in the tower was switched off , and a flashing light at the end of the nearby breakwater served as the harbor 's navigational aid . In 1982 , the light in the lighthouse tower was lit again , and the Battery Point Lighthouse was listed as a private aid to navigation
1964 Alaska earthquake
1964 Alaska earthquake
Battery Point Light