Point Loma

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Old Point Loma lighthouse
View of San Diego Bay from the Old Lighthouse
New Point Loma lighthouse
The naval base in the east of the peninsula

Point Loma is a peninsula at the entrance to San Diego Bay in California . The sandstone fortress protruding into the sea rises 128 meters high and forms a natural protective wall and offers strategically important vantage points over the harbor and the city of San Diego.

Due to its scenic beauty and numerous sights, the place is a tourist attraction. The Cabrillo National Monument , which commemorates the Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo , who was the first European to reach the west coast of the United States on September 28, 1542, should be highlighted .

The Old Point Loma Light Station is located on the highest elevation . In 1851 the US Coastal Survey chose this headland as the location for a lighthouse. The building was completed in 1854 and a year later it was fitted with a Fresnel lens from France . When the weather was clear, the light could be seen from a distance of 70 kilometers. In 1875 a barrack was built south of the houses that had already been built, but it no longer exists today. On March 23, 1891, the lighthouse ceased operations because the apparently perfect location had the disadvantage that the light was often obscured by fog and low-lying clouds.

In 1852, the United States government recognized this important site and declared the area a military zone. Between 1918 and 1943 the army built bunkers and groups of guns. The largest guns were in the Ashburn Battery, where two 16-inch guns could shoot a one-ton cannonballs for nearly 50 kilometers into the sea. There are several memorials for fallen soldiers like the "Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery" (veterans cemetery) or the "USS Bennington Monument".

There is a large sports stadium, a 9-hole golf course and a water park; also is the Point Loma Nazarene University here. A base of the US Navy , the "Subase Point Loma", is the home port of several submarines.

From 1900 to 1942 Point Loma was the seat of the Theosophical Society in America . This had built the Lomaland community here under Katherine Tingley and later Gottfried de Purucker .

Web links

Commons : Point Loma  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Point Loma (Old), CA on lighthousefriends.com, accessed November 2, 2013.

Coordinates: 32 ° 42 ′  N , 117 ° 15 ′  W