Bell and Pump House

The Browns Point bell was cast in 1855 by Bernard and Co. bell foundry in Philadelphia and was brought around the Horn in 1857 by the first lighthouse tender to come to the Pacific coast, the "Shurrick," serving at Dungeness Light Station during the 1860s and later at Point No Point before being installed at Browns Point in 1903. Among the first light keeper's duties in the early 1900s was ringing the bell during periods of fog, and Browns Point was said to have more dense fog and longer sustained periods of fog than any other site in Puget Sound. This 1,200 pound fog bell was operated by hand winding a crank that lifted a 1,440 pound weight with a four part gear, controlling the hammer that struck the bell; it required winding every 90 minutes, and the bell gave a single stroke every 20 seconds. In 1922 Browns Point received electricity, and the light and bell winding mechanism were run electrically. When the old wooden lighthouse was replaced by a new concrete lighthouse in 1933, the bell was removed and replaced by an air horn. The bell was then given to the College of Puget Sound, later the University of Puget Sound, where it was rung to mark the beginning and ending of classes. In 1984 the bell was given to the Island Alliance Church on Fox Island, where a bowling ball was attached inside for a clapper. On June 21, 2000, the church donated the bell to Points NE Historical Society, which returned it to Browns Point Lighthouse Park. The bell now hangs in the old Pump House, built in 1917 to pump well water to the cottage and converted in 1922 to hold the station's electrical lines and panels; today it holds the original Browns Point fog bell and is known as the Bell House.

Browns Point, Washington · United States