San Juan Island Lime Kiln Lighthouse
— — the small white light the whales pass under.
Not only on a wall.
“A short white lighthouse on a basalt point above Haro Strait, looking west toward Vancouver Island. The light went into service in 1919, the last major lighthouse built in Washington, and was automated in 1962. The park around it is locally known as Whale Watch Park because the deep water comes in close enough that southern resident and transient orcas can be seen from shore here as well as from anywhere in the lower forty-eight. In summer the rocks above the light fill quietly with people watching the strait. from the studio
San Juan Island Lime Kiln Lighthouse, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Lime Kiln Light stands on a basalt point on the west shore of San Juan Island, inside the 36-acre Lime Kiln Point State Park, about ten miles by road from Friday Harbor. The light was commissioned in 1919, the last major navigational lighthouse built in Washington, and remained the last in the state to convert from kerosene to electricity, doing so in 1940. The Coast Guard automated the light in 1962. The point takes its name from the 19th-century lime kilns that operated on the shoreline; ruins of the kilns sit on the path north of the light.
Haro Strait drops to several hundred metres directly off the point, which puts deep water within sight of shore and makes Lime Kiln one of the best land-based whale-watching sites in the contiguous United States. The Southern Resident orca population, federally listed as endangered, uses the strait through the warm months to follow Chinook salmon; Bigg's transient orcas appear year-round. The Whale Museum's hydrophone in the kiln-keeper's house broadcasts live audio from the water at the point.
The park is open daily, year-round, dawn to dusk, and requires a Washington State Discover Pass for vehicle parking. The lighthouse interior is opened by docents on summer afternoons. The flat path from the parking area to the light is roughly a quarter mile and accessible. Best whale-viewing windows fall from late May through September, with mid-morning and late afternoon producing the most consistent sightings in recent seasons. The point is also a strong sunset vantage on clear evenings, with Vancouver Island sitting low across the strait.