>> Click to enlarge << ... Photo by: Carole Adams

Under the direction of Coast Guard certified lampist Jim Woodward, a team of volunteers from California’s Piedras Blancas Light Station Association were trained to help him meticulously clean the magnificent 1st order Fresnel lens that once stood atop the historic lighthouse.

>> Click to enlarge << Jim Woodward determines where a broken prism fits ... Photo by: Carole Adams

At a cost of around $3,000, the team spent approximately 150 hours on the project to clean the 20-foot tall lighthouse lens.

>> Click to enlarge << Volunteers Abel Martinez and Holly Grant cleaning ... Photo by: Carole Adams

The lens and the lantern room were removed from the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse after a 1948 earthquake. Since 1996, the lens has been on display in a glass enclosure in Cambria, California.

>> Click to enlarge << Volunteers who worked on the Piedras Blancas lens ...

>> Click to enlarge << 1930s image of Piedras Blancas Lighthouse in San ...

>> Click to enlarge << Piedras Blancas Lighthouse in modern times ... Photo by: Carole Adams

This story appeared in the Mar/Apr 2019 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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