Hueneme: "Resting Place"

As early as 1857, the need for a lighthouse at Point Hueneme to mark the eastern Santa Barbara Channel entrance was recognized. In March 1873 Congress appropriated funds for a light station and a 60-acre lighthouse reservation at Point Hueneme. In 1874, Victorian Swiss-Elizabethan style wood frame building (pictured below), combining a two-story residence and three-story light tower, was erected where the harbor entry is now located. In 1882, a fog signal was added and in 1899, the lighting apparatus was replaced with a revolving fourth-order Fresnel lens made in France in 1897 by Barrier and Barnard. ("Order" is a measure of lens size, ranging from first, the largest, to sixth). The French physicist, Augustin Fresnel, designed the lens with a system of crystal prisms that projected light for miles. Fresnel lenses are still used in most operating light houses.

In 1936, shoreline dredging commenced to create the deepwater Port of Hueneme. This forced the original Victorian structure to be moved across the harbor towards Silver Strand Beach. In less than three years, the lighthouse was demolished due to damage and neglect. In 1941 the current concrete "art moderne" building was dedicated reusing the original 1897 Fresnel lens. In 1972, the lighthouse was fully automated and on October 1, 1979, the "Point



Hueneme Light Works" was designated as Ventura County Historical Landmark No. 57.

The original 1897 Fresnel lens can still be seen in operation revolving inside the Point Hueneme Lighthouse tower.

Hueneme "Resting Place"


Sailing under the Spanish flag in 1542, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese sailor, sighted the present day harbors of San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Monterey. Sailing up the coast from San Pedro, Cabrillo's fleet is believed to have landed at Mugu Lagoon on October 10, 1542. Cabrillo named the place El Pueblo de las Canoas (the town of the Canoes) in honor of the large, skillfully crafted ocean canoes constructed by the local seafaring Chumash. When Cabrillo sailed by the small Chumash village near this site at Point Hueneme, he referred to it as Quelqueme, or Welweme, names likely learned from the Chumash at Mugu Lagoon. The phonetic spelling of Wene'mu was later Anglicized to Wyneme in 1869 and finally to Hueneme in 1872.

The name, Hueneme or Wene'mu, has been translated as "resting place" or possibly "half-way place" derived from the habit of the Chumash who use this area as a mid point between Mugu Lagoon and the mouth of the Santa Clara River. This site is also thought to have been advantageous as a channel crossing point being the nearest mainland position



to Anacapa Island and the eastern tip of Santa Cruz Island.

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