WELCOME TO CAPE ST. ELIAS LIGHTHOUSE
ATTENTION:
The Cape will be lodging a beach cleanup crew from
June 3, 2024 to July 12, 2024
NO RESERVATIONS WILL BE AVAILABLE DURING THE DATES ABOVE AND POSSIBLY LONGER
Cape St. Elias Lighthouse is on uninhabited Kayak Island, 62 miles southeast of the nearest town, Cordova, Alaska. The island is 20 miles long and generally only 2 miles wide, but rainforest vegetation is so dense that hikers cannot cross it. The solitary island extends into the Gulf of Alaska, separated from the mainland by a channel 4 miles wide. At its southernmost seaward side is situated the lighthouse, automated since 1974.
It is now a National Historic Landmark. Built in 1916, it sits on a steep slope adjacent to a two-story lightkeepers’ residence. Below it is a helicopter pad, boathouse, and research center. Today only the boathouse is habitable, with wood stove, water tank, propane oven, blankets, and bunks for as many as 10 paying visitors. It is maintained by the Cape St. Elias Lightkeepers Association
Organized in 1997, the Association is dedicated to restoring and preserving the complex of buildings at Cape Elias. It has a 30-year lease with the U.S. Coast Guard. An individual membership in the Association is $35 the first year and $10 annually thereafter. Membership Form
PLEASE READ:
Greetings Cape St. Elias Lighthouse community:
We’re reaching out to you for help because you’ve either been to or expressed an interest in visiting Alaska’s Cape St. Elias Lighthouse on Kayak Island.
Our Mission
For the past 25 years, we have worked hard to keep the lighthouse, an extraordinary place, open for people like yourself to experience…
photo courtesy jim wark, airphoto
View our gallery of photos from the lighthouse to pinnacle rock and more...
photo courtesy toni bocci
Check our availability and/or book yourself a reservation to stay at The Cape
photo courtesy of U.S.C.G
Learn more about the history of Kayak Island and Cape Saint Elias...
AN OLD TALE…
William McClosky Jr. recalls a trip to Cape St. Elias aboard the USCGC Sweetbrier in 1962 to investigate
"repeated dead-of-night calls from a seaman on watch, who kept breaking into sobs."
McClosky relates that they
"found a boatswain's mate in charge, remembered by a former shipmate as a sturdy fellow, who had developed a disturbing giggle and whose eyes, framed in a sallow face, wandered to far horizons. He had made himself emperor of the station. Advisories to his three subjects were posted everywhere in their cramped quarters: 'Wipe your damn boots – THIS MEANS YOU' and 'No loud talk or damn laughing anytime – THIS MEANS YOU.'"