Then and Now

For more than a century, the keepers of Destruction Island’s lighthouse guided mariners through the ocean waters off Washington state’s rocky coastline.

1940

Coast Guard skipper Elmer Winbeck (with lighthouse keeper Albert Beyer and his daughter) brought supplies to the island.

2008

A year after this photo was taken, the Coast Guard decommissioned the lighthouse.

THE FACTS

Destruction Island rises roughly 80 feet above the sea and is part of the Quillayute Needles National Wildlife Refuge. It’s about

3.5 miles offshore.

GETTING THERE

Though closed to the public, the lighthouse is visible from the water (via hartered tours) or from Destruction Island Viewpoint in Olympic National Park.