Piedras Blancas is located on California's central coast, just north of San Simeon. The point is named for three white rocks located offshore. In the early 1870's, this location was chosen to fill the gap between the lighthouses at Point Conception and Point Piños. The lighthouse was completed in 1875. A two-story Victorian dwelling was completed later that year. The original tower was 115 feet tall and housed a first-order Fresnel lens. A fog signal and additional keeper's dwelling were added in 1906.

The lighthouse is located near Hearst Castle in San Simeon. Norman Francis (son of keeper Norman Leo Francis) recalled working in the castle in high school and occasionally catching a glimpse of William Randolph Hearst and illustrious guests such as Erroll Flynn and Marion Davies.

The Coast Guard assumed control of the lighthouse in 1939. In 1949, a storm damaged the lantern room. The Fresnel lens was removed and the tower was capped. A rotating aerobeacon was placed on top of the decapitated tower. The current tower is 74 feet high and 142 feet above sea level. The 1906 dwelling was sold and moved to Cambria as a private home. The original dwelling was razed in 1960 and replaced with homes for the Coast Guard families. Tours were conducted until 1975, when the station was automated. In 1978, the grounds were leased to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The unused Fresnel lens was abandoned and slated for destruction. The lens was saved in 1951 by the Cambria Lions Club, who brought the lens to Cambria on loan from the Coast Guard and displayed the lens outside the Veteran's Building.

By 1990, the lens was showing signs of wear due to exposure to the elements. The lens was taken down in 1990 and refurbished in Monterey. The Coast Guard, the community of Cambria and the Lions Club refurbished the cast iron components and polished the prisms and brass.

In 1992, the Friends of Piedras Blancas Light built a lantern room around the lens. The beautifully restored lens can be seen outside the Veteran's Building (at the Pinedorado Grounds) on Main Street in Cambria, 13 miles south of the lighthouse.

The lighthouse is currently owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). In 2002, the BLM announced plans to restore the lantern room of the station, as well as rebuild the keeper's dwelling and fog signal. The light has been opened for guided tours. The BLM has partnered with local community groups to help restore the lighthouse and the site. Preliminary efforts have involved clearing the grounds of invasive plants and replacing them with native species, examining the tower for earthquake damage, and checking if the tower can still support the weight of a restored lantern room.

In 2006, second and third-graders of Grover Heights Elementary school began the "Pennies for Piedras" campaign to raise money toward restoration of the lighthouse lantern. The campaign arose from a class project in which each student created a model and scrapbook for a different lighthouse. A student named Connor "bemoaned that his beacon, California's Piedras Blancas Lighthouse, did not have a lantern room" (Lighthouse Digest May 2006). From these beginnings, the students began a fundraising campaign. By the end of the school year, the students had raised $1337.30 in pennies toward restoration of the light.

References (see links)

Umbrella Guide to California Lighthouses, Nelson p. 66
The Keeper's Log Summer 2002, Winter 2005, Fall 2005
Lighthouse Digest May 2006, August 2006
Friends of Piedras Blancas Lighthouse Lens (flyer)