Lighthouse at Mukilteo State Park. (Photos courtesy of Washington State Digital Archives)

Lighthouses go hand in hand with Washington’s long coastline and Puget Sound shoreline. In fact, our state has about 25 lighthouses, most of them in active service, and all serving as magnets for camera-toting, cell-phone-equipped tourists. These beautiful sentinels stretch from Cape Disappointment near the mouth of the Columbia River north to Patos Island, part of the San Juans.

You can view many classic photos of Washington lighthouses by visiting our State Digital Archives and then finding the State Library Photograph Collection, 1851-1990. More lighthouse photos are found on the Digital Archives’ General Subjects’ Photograph Collection, 1845-2005.

Here are a few WA lighthouse photos from our Digital Archives. The top photo  features the lighthouse at Mukilteo State Park. The shot was taken sometime between 1940 and 1980.

North Head Lighthouse near Long Beach.

The second photo shows the North Head Lighthouse in 1956. The lighthouse sits over the Pacific between Cape Disappointment and the Long Beach Peninsula. The third photo, taken in 1963, features the Bush Point Lighthouse, located on southern Whidbey Island on Admiralty Inlet. The fourth photo, taken in 1966, shows the lighthouse at Cattle Point on the San Juan Island. The bottom photo, taken in 1917, features the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse.

Bush Point Lighthouse on Whidbey Island.

Cattle Point Lighthouse on San Juan Island.

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse.