Umpqua Lighthouse

At the entrance to Winchester Bay and at the mouth of the Umpqua River, stands a sentinel of the ocean, casting its red and white beams of light some 20 miles out to sea. The 65-foot tower is situated on a hill 100 feet above sea level surrounded by US Coast Guard buildings and a Museum.
An earlier light structure, the first on the Oregon Coast, was built in 1857 on the south side of the river. It fell into the swollen water seven years later during a storm when the water eroded away the sand.
The current lighthouse was started in 1890 and was illuminated in 1894. It is the sister lighthouse to the one at Heceta Head just a few miles north of Florence. Both structures were built from the same plans.