Navesink Fresnel Lens
Signed photograph ~ Maria A. Barnowl  

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Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center
Cape Disappointment State Park
Ilwaco, Washington

Lieutenant Bartlet, author of the Coast Survey Report in 1850,
reccommended "the lantern, or light, should be of a power not less
than the best light on Navesink,"
in other words, a marine light of the first power.

Thus, the lighthouse at Cape Disappointment received a first-order Fresnel lens
that was originally in one of the “twin towers” in Navesink, New Jersey.
When it arrived, it was found to be too large for the lighthouse tower,
and rebuilding the tower took two more years.

In 1856, this lens was lit in the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse,
which was set at a height of 220 feet above sea level.

This first-order lens was transferred to North Head Lighthouse (2 miles farther north) in 1898
and replaced with a fourth-order lens, which is still in operation today.
Later, this lens was put on display at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center.