Tier 2
Lime Point Light
Lime Point Light Station
Sausalito · Marin County · Bay Area
One of the most photographed lighthouse positions in California by accident: it sits squarely under the Golden Gate Bridge. An active aid to navigation still doing the original 1900s job, automated. The light characteristic is Fl W 5s — flashing white every five seconds.
Labels
- Tier 1–3
- Editorial browse cues for prominence and context—not circuits, checklists, or achievements.
- Active aid
- The light currently serves navigation. It does not mean the tower, grounds, or interior are open to visitors.
- Public / restricted access
- Some approved visitor access versus a legal viewpoint, special arrangement, or no ordinary public entry. Always check the official guidance.
- Flagship 12
- The curated statewide circuit. It is separate from the editorial tier labels.
Your lighthouse passport
Stamp my passport
Check in at Lime Point Light to collect your digital stamp. Add your name if you like.
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From the field
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Visit essentials
Access
Current hours
Reservations
Fees
Accessibility
The light
Year first lit
Current structure built
Tower height
Focal plane
Optic
Light characteristic
Stewardship & location
Owner
Manager
Coordinates
The story
Built 1900 at the north anchorage of the Golden Gate, directly beneath what is now the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. A small fog signal station rather than a tall tower — the focal plane is only 15 feet — built to mark a hazardous rock for ships threading the strait.
The visit
Reachable on foot from the Marin Headlands via the Lime Point or Battery Spencer trails. Exterior only. Best at low tide and on weekdays — weekend parking near the headlands fills early.
Make a day of it
Base yourself in
Nearby lighthouses
Point Bonita Lighthouse
★ Flagship 12Sausalito, Bay Area
The guardian of the Golden Gate. One of the most dramatic lighthouse settings in the United States — perched on a rocky point, accessed by a suspension bridge over crashing surf. The very limited access (one Saturday per month) makes planning essential.
Fort Point Light
San Francisco, Bay Area
Lighthouse-meets-bridge-construction story is the entry. The original navigational role was made redundant by the very structure that erased the building.
Help keep this guide accurate: report changed access, a broken link, or a factual correction.
Sources
- Officialnps.gov/goga
- Secondarylighthousefriends.com/light.asp
- Secondaryen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime_Point_Light
- Imagescommons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lime_Point_Light.jpg
Image rights: NPS images generally public domain. Wikimedia Commons has CC-licensed images.
Research confidence: medium · Last verified 2026-05-13