Miracle at Pigeon Point

05/19/01 2:48 PM

1-800-758-1444

The controversial bed and breakfast cabins (known as Lighthouse Inn at Pigeon Point) being built on three acres of land at California’s Pigeon Point Lighthouse, as previously reported in Lighthouse Digest, will never open for business.

The news was fantastic, almost unbelievable to the folks at Pigeon Point Lighthouse who had finally set their minds to the fact that after years of fending off the encroachment there was nothing that could be done to stop the development that was now near completion. It was obvious that the building of the bed and breakfast project would literally not only ruin the picturesque view of the lighthouse but would alter the area forever. The building of the bed and breakfast would also deny visitors to the lighthouse access to Whalers Cove Beach. Although the beach itself is public property, you need to cross private property to get there and the owners of the B&B posted “no trespassing” signs as far back in 1994 and were eventually planning to allow only B&B guests access to the beach.

Volunteers at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse noticed that construction work on the B&B had suddenly stopped and a giant fence had been constructed around it. And then the news came out.

The Peninsula Open Space Trust announced that they had purchased the property for $2.65 million, saying that the coast here is not just a national treasure but a worldwide treasure, and that it must be guarded and protected.

The Trust plans to remove all of the nearly completed bed and breakfast cabins, as well as all the sewer and water treatment facilities at the site and then turn the land over to the State to be maintained as a public park. “All of it - every bathroom, laundry room and cozy room with a view - will be bulldozed if they cannot be recycled for charitable uses,” said Audry Rust, president of the Trust.

This story appeared in the September 2000 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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