Cabrillo National Monument

1542

It marks Cabrillo's landing at San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542

Cabrillo National Monument commemorates the landing of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542. The event marked the first time a European expedition had set foot on what later became the West Coast of the United States.

The statue

The Cabrillo statue arrived too late for the exposition and waited until 1949

The Portuguese government commissioned a heroic statue of Cabrillo in 1939. It arrived too late for the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco and was stored in an Oakland garage. It was installed at the monument in 1949, and a limestone replica replaced it in 1988.

14 feetheight of the sandstone statue of Cabrillo

The lighthouse

The old lighthouse was lit in 1855 and put out in 1891 because of fog

The Old Point Loma Lighthouse was completed in November 1855, and in clear weather its light was visible at sea for 25 miles. Fog and low clouds often hid the light on top of the cliff, and on March 23, 1891 the flame was permanently extinguished.

Gliders

Charles Lindbergh soared along the Point Loma cliffs in 1930

Several soaring endurance records were set near the entrance by William Hawley Bowlus and others, including a 15-hour flight in 1930. Charles Lindbergh soared in a Bowlus sailplane along the cliffs of Point Loma that year.

The batteries

The monument includes old artillery batteries built to protect the harbor

The monument includes former military installations, such as coastal artillery batteries, built to protect the harbor of San Diego from enemy warships. It was off-limits to the public during World War II. Presidents Eisenhower and Ford later enlarged it to more than 140 acres.