Tier 3 · Curiosities

Roe Island Light (demolished)

Roe Island Light Station

Pittsburg · Contra Costa County · Bay Area

Roe Island Light (demolished) is a demolished lighthouse on the Bay Area coast of California, first lit in 1891.

DemolisheddemolishedRestricted access

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Year first lit

1891

Current structure built

1891

Optic

Demolished

Coordinates

38.0450, -121.9300 Map

History

Built 1891 on Roe Island in Suisun Bay. The island and lighthouse were both demolished when the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet — the 'mothball fleet' of decommissioned Navy ships — was established nearby. No structure remains. Records are sparse.

Why it matters

An archive-only entry. Useful as the cleanest example of a California lighthouse being erased by another federal use of the same waterway, and as a footnote in the broader Bay-and-Delta navigational story.

The visit

Nothing to visit. Site documented in U.S. Coast Guard archives and a small number of period photographs.

Logistics

Recommended base

Pittsburg or Antioch

Accessibility

Demolished. No structure remains.

Nearby lighthouses

Carquinez Strait Light

Crockett, Bay Area

Tier 3InactiveRestricted⚠ Verify

Closes the loop on the small cluster of inland-bay screw-pile lights that supported Bay-to-Delta navigation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries — Mare Island, Southampton Shoal, Roe Island, and Carquinez Strait.

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Sources

Officialen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_Island_Light
Officiallighthousefriends.com/light.asp
Secondaryen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_Island_Light

Image rights: Historic images may exist at USCG Historian or Library of Congress.

Research confidence: medium · Last verified 2026-05-13