Apr. 11—Trails from the Beach to the Lightkeeper’s house to the Heceta Head Lighthouse hosted a steady stream of visitors for the Lighthouses’s 130th anniversary March 30.

“The weather was absolutely our friend today,” said volunteer docent Sandy Coleman, who noted that turnout for the birthday celebration was higher than normal and steady all day long.

Oregon State Parks information officer Stefanie Knowlton said 577 people came into the lighthouse and an estimated 277 just walked to the outside. Knowlton said it would be hard to gauge whether visitors came for the lighthouse birthday or the fact that it was a sunny Saturday during spring break.

Docents were unhand to answer questions, and give short tours through the bottom go the lighthouse.

Visitors enjoyed tours, stories, hot dogs and live music. The day started with a Easter egg hunt at the Lightkeeper’s house yard while others packed the beach below.

The lighthouse is named after Don Bruno de Heceta who set off on a secret west coast voyage for the Queen of Spain in 1775.

“Due to the onslaught of scurvy, Heceta and his crew turned back just before the Columbia River, but not before he noted the shallow waters and rocky headland that now bear his name,”according to historic reports. “A century later, mariners frequenting the dark waters between Coos Bay and Newport asked for a lighthouse to guide their journeys up and down the coast. Heceta Head proved an ideal location, but the construction project in this isolated place was no small feat.”

The light was erected in 1892 and cast its first beams over the ocean March 30, 1894. The full history can be found online at https://www.hecetalighthouse.com/history.