Cape Spencer

Cape Spencer lighthouse stands on a barren, isolated rock at the entrance to Cross Sound, where the sheltered Inside Passage meets the open Gulf of Alaska. The original lighthouse still stands. It is a single-story, reinforced concrete building that housed both machinery and keepers. The light tower rises above its flat roof., Cape Spencer keepers rarely left the rock. Occasionally, calm seas let them take a small skiff into Pelican, 20 miles away, to get their mail. The keepers also could pick up special groceries in town. One day, when rough water prevented a trip into Pelican, a keeper with a hankering for lemon pie baked one without lemons. Instead, he used brass polish, which, as he explained, had a high citrus content. There were no objections from those who shared the pie., One year, as Christmas approached, a keeper took the skiff to the mainland to cut a tree. On the return trip, the outboard motor failed. Skiff and keeper were last seen as the strong Cross Sound current carried them into the North Pacific's fog., Cape Spencer's original lens is at the Alaska State Museum, in Juneau. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve manages the site., At-a-glance box , . Location: entrance to Cross Sound, 70 miles west of Juneau , . First lighted: Dec. 11, 1925 , . Original Optics: third-order Fresnel lens , . Automated: 1974, Captions , (Top) A barge is off-loaded during construction of the Cape Spencer Lighthouse. (US Coast Guard Photo) , (Bottom) The Lighthouse at Cape Spencer. (US Coast Guard Photo)