Here is a home that was built by maritime historian Jim Gibbs. I have been in the house and the light house tower. One of my good friends was friends with Jim and his wife, and when we were moving my friend back up to the Pacific Northwest after serving in the military, we stopped by to see the Gibbs at there home (they lived in this interesting house that Jim built. It was a delight to meet him and I was saddened to hear of his passing recently.
Your lighthouse idea was a great one
and I couldn't help but share this info about Jim Gibbs and the time that I got to meet him and climb up into the tower of his lighthouse built as part of his home. The house sits on a cliff above the Pacific and was used as an actual light house when I visited there with my friend. We were there the summer of 1979 while travelling up to Portland by scenic route as I had never been there before then. It was only a couple of months later that I moved up to Oregon, and lived there for sever years before moving back to Texas.
Take care Karen and I hope you enjoyed this.
Cheryl
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Description: Captain James Cook, on his third and final voyage of discovery, steered the HMS Resolution northward from Hawaii in search of a Northwest Passage. On March 6, 1778, he sighted land, the Oregon Coast. He recorded in his journal, "The land appeared to be of moderate height, diversified with hill and Valley and almost everywhere covered with wood." The passage would elude him, and much of the charting of the Pacific Northwest, would later be done by a sailor who served on the Resolution named George Vancouver, but Cook left his mark on the diversified coast by naming a prominent cape rising sharply out of the Pacific Ocean. He called it Cape Perpetua, having first sighted it on March 7, St. Perpetua Day.Today, Cape Perpetua is a scenic wonder, drawing visitors to its spouting horn, devil’s churn, and dramatic view of the Oregon Coast. Nestled on the north spur, under the shadow of the cape, is a privately owned lighthouse, marking the spot for vessels sailing the coast between Coos Bay and Yaquina Bay. Built in 1976 by former lighthouse keeper and noted maritime historian Jim Gibbs, Cleft of the Rock Lighthouse takes its name from the hymn by Fanny J. Crosby, “He Hideth My Soul in the Cleft of the Rock,” which is based on Exodus 33:22. Mr. Gibbs designed the lighthouse as a replica of the former Fiddle Reef Lighthouse, which was located on Oak Bay near Victoria B.C. Made of redwood siding painted driftwood grey, the tower stands thirty-four feet tall, 110 feet above sea, and serves as the entrance to the dwelling. Its optic, formerly used by the Canadian Coast Guard at sea-girt Solander Island off the west coast of Vancouver Island, sends out a beam from a small halogen globe that can be seen sixteen miles out to sea. The light has a signature of alternate white and red flashes every ten seconds. The home and lighthouse have been a labor of love for Mr. Gibbs, who has incorporated several historic pieces from West Coast lighthouses into the décor. The stair railing from the original keepers dwelling at Yaquina Head is installed in the tower, and among many maritime treasures are two fourth-order Fresnel lenses. Mr. Gibbs, whose life has been devoted to all things maritime, began his career in the Coast Guard. He recently recounted that he initially requested to be stationed on Scotch Cap Lighthouse on Unimak Island in Alaska. “Instead, I was sent to Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. I wasn’t too thrilled, but it turned out to be a good thing. On April 1, 1946, Scotch Cap was hit by a large tsunami, knocking it completely off its foundation and killing the five men stationed there.” Since his Coast Guard days, he has authored twenty-one maritime books including Lighthouse of the Pacific (1986) and is considered an authority on Pacific Coast Lighthouses and Northwest shipwrecks. His light at Cape Perpetua was not originally considered for a lighthouse designation because ocean traffic at this point travels well offshore, but in 1979, just over 200 years from Captain Cook’s day of discovery, the light was made an official navigational aid. James Gibbs remained actively involved in the Oregon Lighthouse community until passing away at his beloved lighthouse in May 2010. References - Oregon’s Seacoast Lighthouses, Jim Gibbs, 2000.
- Cook’s Log,, page 244, volume 7, number 1 (1984).
- “Jim Gibbs and All Things Maritime," Oregon Coast, July/August 2005.
Location: Located at milepost 166 just off Highway 101, 1.8 miles south of Yachats. Not open to the public, but can be viewed from a pullout on the highway.
Latitude: 44.29049
Longitude: -124.11076
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