Dan Clearwater volunteered monthly while working at a “big four” accounting firm and weekly upon retirement. His connection with Pigeon Point is two-fold. Photography is a hobby, and lighthouses are a special interest. He is a member of the US Lighthouse Society and has photographed lighthouses in at least ten states, Canada and Mexico. (Did you know that Michigan, on the Great Lakes, has the most lighthouses?) It may be no surprise then that he readily signed up.

Dan says that typically, docent training is scheduled for the last two Saturdays of September and the first Saturday of October for groups of about ten. However, other training can be done through binders, Zooms, and mentors. While the most docents come from Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay, he commutes from San Francisco.

At the Light Station, three docents are needed. One operates the store which is managed by Coastside State Parks Association to benefit Light Station operations and programs, including the educational and interpretive volunteer programs. Another is an interpreter at the Fog Signal Building (which houses the great Fresnel lens and memorabilia), and a third does the walking tour. Dan says, “without docents, the park would not be open.” They are encouraged to work one day a month, although Dan works each week. Tours last 45 minutes, and, as at Año Nuevo,  each one is different.

Dan likes to begin his tours at the flagpole, giving an historical background that begins in 1871 and notes the original lighthouse keeper stayed in the first hostel building. At the little bridge he may point out where there was a narrow port with a pier until the 1930s. He may go on to cover the carpenter shop, plants and wildlife, the huge Fresnel lens that guided ships, or the fog horns.

A key benefit to docents is the appreciation of visitors. He recalls a Girl Scout troop that used their cookie earnings to stay at the adjacent Pigeon Point hostel. They gave him boxes of cookies as a gift and later wrote a letter of thanks that was signed by each scout.

Visitors are all ages and come from all over the world. Dan says that a surprising number of visitors come from China apparently because the lighthouse is in a school curriculum.  The most common questions are about when whales are in season (any time of year) and what is the lighthouse for (as a navigation guide more than a shipwreck savior). A memorable one was “how much does the lighthouse weigh?” Never one to avoid a difficult question, Dan pointed out that there are 500,000  bricks, each weighing about 1.5 pounds, plus mortar. Dan summarizes, “the job is thoroughly enjoyable and you get to meet interesting people.”