The rare Cape Mears variation

The rare Cape Meares variation

Sounds like ebay. Doesn’t it.

Does every one remember when Cape Meares, Concord, Scituate and several other L.E.’s production were changed from Malaysia to China. Most of them had no significant change except Cape Meares OR ,Concord MD and Scituate MA. On the Scituate and the Concord the railing was changed from a solid to open. Cape Meares ventilator ball got smaller and the lantern changed from gray to blue.

At the time, the mold change took place it seemed to be mid stream of the production creating a somewhat balance of each variation.
According to the Harbour Light web page (from the research of John Chidester) the Cape Meares Malaysian production ended at 4656. Now that Cape Meares production has ended at 5656, it looks like there may be only around 1,000 of the China made Cape Mears with a mold change(ventilator ball). http://www.harbourlights.com/catalog.htm

Maybe there is less that that.

What’s the highest number that anybody has for the (made in Malaysia) Cape Meares?

What’s the lowest number that anybody has for the (made in China) Cape Meares?

I have a Malaysia Cape Mears #330

Daniel



[This message has been edited by Daniel (edited 03-13-2000).]

Daniel,

I have Cape Mears #4726 She was made in
CHINA

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Weasel58



[This message has been edited by Weasel58 (edited 03-07-2000).]

I have #3171 made in Malaysia.

Larry

I just got Cape Meares last week. Made in China #5002. I've been holding off buying it because I wanted the blue lantern room. I thought it was truer to the actual light.

All my regular dealers had grey lantern (lower #s). So I finally found it on E-bay.

Never thought of the lower production number.
In fact I had asked in a thread a while back which version people thought was more accurate. Some very nice photos were posted.

Sorry I don't know how to link the threads.

Donna

Number 555 made in Malaysia sits in my curio. I thought the setting for the lighthouse was most spectacular. Was there during July of 1999.

Derith

How did you find that page??? I forgot it was there and there are no links to it. Guess you searched and it popped up.

Now I'll have to edit that too with the new quantities.

#2951 Made in Malaysia
Thanks for the info.

I have #3245, made in Malaysia.

John
I remembered the site from the days of pre-Harbour light web page.
Used your search product and found it.

Donna
Here is the link you were talking about:
http://www.lighthousekeepers.com/forums/Forum1/HTML/000599.html

Daniel

[This message has been edited by Daniel (edited 03-08-2000).]

I have #26 made in malaysia
Mike H

Daniel, thanks for the link. I can search & pull up the old threads just don't know how to make them active to the current site.

After reading and looking at the photos I'm glad I waited for the blue lantern room.

Donna

Very interesting topic.
I have #2265 Malaysia.

Has anyone noticed any difference in price between the malaysia and China pieces on e-bay?

Dale

I have 3653 made in Malaysia.

Dixie

Here are my Cape Meares Harbour Lights lighthouses:
HL160 Cape Meares, OR(Malaysia) #236
HL160 Cape Meares, OR (China) #4754

BTW the spelling is Meares with 2 e's not Mears like the race car driver Rick... http://zuma.lib.utk.edu/lights/meares.html

SaintWackoPaul '
Keep the Flame

I have #5085 made in China. I do like the blue lantern room on this. I live about 50 miles from this lighthouse, and visit it often. I love seeing the beautiful clear and red lens rotate. It is possible to be practically at eye-level in the park with the lens. One of my favorites. A beautiful view of the Pacific from there.

Ned

Ned, I'm a native Portlander and spent a LOT of time on the OR coast...Cape Meares is one of my favorites as well...one of my HL "dream-pieces" would be a GLOW of the original Meares tower with one or even both of its original keeper's dwellings...what a beauty! (And I don't even like GLOWs!)

[This message has been edited by Rock (edited 04-06-2000).]

Hi Ned,

Cape Meares was the first Oregon light we saw on our 1996 visit. Flew into Portland, rented the car and headed west over the coast range. Ended up in Tillamook that first night. Saw Cape Meares about 8:30 that night, sun low in the sky, some blue sky. Quite an impression as we walked down the path eye level to the lantern room.

We weren't into lighthouses per se and hadn't discovered HLs yet. But we did see both Yaquinas, Cape Blanco & Heceta Head. I only hope I have another opportunity to visit the West coast. I only know that I would take three times as many photos. I'd also time my visits to actually get into the lights where available.

I'm very glad I waiting to find a blue lantern roomed Cape Meares. Think it is a much more attractive HL and true to the light. I'm just very glad we took the time to visit some of the beautiful Oregon lights in a too-short week vacation. Now to get back someday!

Donna

Rock, Ned or Donna
Is the Cape Meares keeper's dwellings still standing? Would any of you have pictures of the light keepers homes of now or then?

Daniel

Daniel, sad to say the twin keeper's dwellings were torn down long ago...they were originally located where the visitor parking lot at the state park now is...I do have a calendar from the light's 1990 100-yr anniversary that has pics of the dwellings, including one that shows the entire bluff from the dwellings on down to the light completely devoid of any trees or shrubbery...fascinating! I will try and locate a scanner and post some pics.

Donna, if you haven't found your blue lantern Cape Meares yet...Tomorrow's Treasures in Cupertino, CA (408-865-0400) has one, #5067 I believe...ask for Kathy or Nancy, nice gals.

Cape Meares was my favorite when my wife and I toured the Oregon Lighthouses last fall.
The walk down to the light is beautiful with the lantern room framed at the end of the path. Going down was easy but that long grade
back to the parking lot is hard on the legs.
I did it twice within an hour when we left our lighthouse passports in the car. Oh well,
at least I got to enjoy seeing the light from the path twice.

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Randall Ronne

Hi Rock,

Thanks for the tip on blue lantern Cape Meares. I found one on e-bay just before the holidays. That was before I realized how many more were gray lantern rooms than blue. I just knew I liked the blue better.

Glad you had the answer about keeper's house. Would be interested in seeing pictures of the old keeper's house if you can scan them/get them into the forums.

I was just looking at my photos from Oregon, remembering the long path down to the light.
Now if I could ever figure out how to get the scan into the forums....

Donna

I have a Cape Meares, Oregon, limited edition
number 29, sticker Made in Malaysia.

Donna, haven't forgotten about the Cape Meares photos...I'm still trying to figure out how to get a couple of them into the forums...problem is, old black-&-white photos look awful upon scanning, especially since this operator doesn't have a lot of experience doctoring them and loading them properly!

Anyway, here's some extra info about Cape Meares' twin keeper's houses:

The two sturdy keeper's houses, each 2-1/2 stories and painted white w/lead colored trimmings and brown roofs, were located about 1000 feet east of the lighthouse. The keepers and their families maintained large gardens and kept chickens and a few milk cows for most of their food. Every few weeks, trips planned for high tide were made to buy staples and other supplies in town (Tillamook). Horses and wagons were used to travel down to Tillamook Bay and a pulling boat was rowed and poled across the Bay to town during high tide (high tides were necessary as a large portion of Tillamook Bay turns to mudlflats at low tide). Keeper's children rode horses to a one-room, wood-stove heated schoolhouse nearby, the wise old horses would often have to scrunch down on their haunches and slide down muddy trails!

Sadly, the deteriorated and vandalized keeper's houses were removed in the summer of 1968 when Tillamook County turned their lease from the USCG over to Oregon State Parks. A viewing area, parking, and new restrooms took their place.

Most of this info was taken from the Tillamook Pioneer County Museum's 1990 Commemorative Calendar. I bet they still have copies laying around for sale if anyone cares to call them (503-842-4553).

Rock, I enjoyed reading your description of the keeper's houses. I know what you mean about the scanner. I just spent considerable time tonight playing around with mine. I'm trying to post photos with some glass/collectibles I want to sell on E-bay.
First I couldn't get them to show up. Now the photos do but I'm not happy with the quality. They are fuzzy (not the actual pics). Tried reducing size, didn't help. I'm sure there is some simple thing I'm not doing right.

The details of the journey necessary to get supplies brought back memories of our first night in Oregon. We left the Portland airport in our rented car and intended to start at Astoria. Somehow we crossed the coast range & ended up in Tillamook. After dinner we drove past the bay on our search for the Pacific. It was a large bay for the keepers families to have to cross. Then we found Cape Meares, the octopus tree etc.

The next morning we stumbled onto the Pioneer Museum that issued the calendar and spent several hours touring it. That is the way our family travels, we don't have set goals, we just stop or head in whatever direction appeals to us at the moment. 'Course I always have a list of lighthouses in the area and point us in that direction.

I'll enjoy the photos whenever you can scan them.

Donna