Point Pinos Lighthouse (1855) — Attraction in Pacific Grove

Monterey is always a joy to visit. With the cool temperatures, the ocean breezes, the friendly people, the aquarium, and so much more, I found the lighthouse to be a wonderful inspiration. Having been in continuous operation since 1855, it is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the west coast, and the docents will repeat this factoid several times, for anyone who will listen. The lighthouse is open for tours in the afternoons from 1 to 4. The volunteers seem to love their jobs. Situated on the tip of the Monterey peninsula between two fairways, back from the coast a couple hundred yards is a small house with a giant light on the steeple, or whatever you call the part with the big rotating light. The history of the types of light sources, the notes of the keepers, the reports of the issues during the war, make this a very informative stop. Whether you are being self guided or docent toured, there is so much on the wall and in the story to make this an eye opening adventure. I really enjoyed my stop and it takes some time to read the wall postings. I also enjoyed sitting on the second floor and just watching the waves crashing on the rocks, and speculating about watching for ships over the decades. This well preserved site give a glimpse into an era, or even a group of eras unknown or never contemplated by most. For any history buff it is a must. For the curious it is a Pandora's box and for everyone it is...

This looks like a nice lighthouse. Unfortunately we stopped by on a weekday in June, 2023 , while touring the west coast. Point Pines Lighthouse has extremely limited hours being: Friday 1-3pm, and Saturday & Sunday 11am-3pm. That's it. 10 out of 168 hours in a week. OK to be fair, 10 hours out of the 84 hours available, if we say 7 days, with 7am to 7pm daylight. So I guess it's best to go at lunch time on the weekend, or forget it. Since we had one day on a weekday to visit, we stopped by and took a picture over the locked fence. It does look like a nice lighthouse judging by the picture I took. But I am not sure. As such, I only gave the Point Pinos three stars. It may be nice, but I'll never know other than what we were able to see from the locked gate. I mainly gave them three stars because of the many hours they are not open compared to the very few hours that they are actually open. What a shame. But I did get a nice picture from...

Very disappointed. We stayed a extra night in Pacific Grove on my Husband's Birthday weekend. We came to the Point Pinos Lighthouse. Only to be turned away due to the fact that their credit card machine was not working. We had no cash on us. They would not let us in. They said unfortunately our credit card machine was down. The refused to let us go in. The staff there were, telling us that their boss would let us enter without cash. I am writing you this because of such a thing happened. We actully had one of the volunteers come out to our car and tell us he was very sorry about not letting us in. We are elderly folks. The Grounds were BEAUTIFUL, however we were disappointed. Not being able to see the historical light house and all of it's history. If your machine is down, make adjustments for people who drove to come and see this...