Heceta Head Lighthouse if one of the most photographed lighthouses on the Scenic Oregon Coast.

The lighthouse stands 205 feet above the pacific ocean and is located at Heceta Head State Park. The park entrance is off US 101, 13 miles north of Florence.

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Construction began on the lighthouse in 1892. Laborers were paid $2.00 a day and worked an average of ten hours a day. The highest paid carpenter received $4.00 a day. How would you like to make those wages!

The tower was lit for the first time on March 30, 1894. The light is the most powerful along the Oregon coast. The light can be seen 21 miles out to sea and is only stopped by the curvature of the earth.

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The lighthouse and 2 oil houses and the assistant light keepers house are the only structure still standing. They are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The assistant lightkeeprs house is now a bed and breakfast inn. The head light keepers house was sold for $10.00 in 1940 to a buyer who tore it down and used it for lumber.

Though the lighthouse tower is not haunted, stories have been told for many years of weird unexplained happenings at Heceta House. It has been called one of the ten most haunted houses in the United States.

Nearly all the residents since 1950 have reported unusual incidents. The ghost is suppose to be a woman named Rue and she is said to be quite pleasant. The current keepers say that even today guests report friendly encounters. No one seems to mind her at all.

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The Trail to the Heceta Head lighthouse winds along both sides of Heceta Head.

From the south side, the lighthouse is only a half-mile walk from the parking lot (elevation gain 150 feet). The trail passes the bed and breakfast inn on a gentle slope up to the lighthouse and has a spectacular Cliffside viewing area.

A 2-mile segment of the Oregon Coast Trail poses a more challenging route for hikers on the north side of the lighthouse. It follows a steep winding path (elevation gain 600 feet). I think I will take the shorter path myself.

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