Point Reyes Light guided and cautioned mariners along this hazardous coast for over 100 years. Built by the U.S. Lighthouse Service in 1870, it came under management of the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939. Resident personnel operated the station until 1975, when conversion to automated lights and electronic equipment was completed. At sundown a lightkeeper lit the wick of an oil lamp set inside the lens, and 1,303 dazzling prisms directed a beam to the horizon. In a 1927 photo, a lightkeeper polishes the lens.