This mural was the "mural in a day" project of September 30, 2000
Painted by Master Artists and Linda Gooch and Vickie Anderson and the crew.
In 1852 a contract was signed to build eight lighthouses along the California Seaboard. One of them was schedules to be built at local Point conception.
It was completed in 1854. But it did not become operational until the schooner General Pierce landed at nearby Coho Bay in September 1855with a Fresnel First Order Seacoast Light manufactured in Paris
by master glassmaker Henri Le Paute at a cost of $65,000. For almost 150 years the lighthouse has served as an important navigational
along the mariners' nightmare stretch of coast known as "The Graveyard of Ships"
This section of coast is filled
with submerged reefs and rocks, treacherous shifting currents, Immense
fog banks and shifting winds. For these reasons this stretch is littered
with dozens of shipwrecks, but because of the silted water, and the dangerous
currents little diving is done in the really bad areas where the boats
go down. This mural named 'A History of the Coast' shows the aftermath of the grounding of seven
destroyers
on 8 Sep 1923 at Honda point south of Lompoc.
It stands to this day as the greatest peacetime Naval disaster in the history of the U.S.
Navy. Some townspeople made it to the wrecks as sailors were scrambling
up the rocky cliffs. The sailors were given blankets and hot coffee by
the locals until official help arrived.
For an informative website with several
Photographs of the disaster go to
Hazegray
A History of the Coast". Lance Hunter was
awarded the commission to design, draw the mural beforehand and direct the
completion of this mural in a day. Kabu painted part of the sky as
one of the fourteen artists that worked on the project.
Despite the cold currents and
the cloudy water good diving can still be found at certain times and in
many locations. The central coast has some very beautiful beds of kelp,
a large seaweed. The kelp forests are really spectacular to swim through
and have an extraordinary diversity of animal life. Seal, otters and many
species of fish abound in these 'islands' in the sea. No-one has yet had
a verified sighting of a mermaid as in this mural, but some who stayed
too deep and suffered (enjoyed?) nitrogen narcosis have seen all kinds
of things in these underwater rocky crags.
Here we can see some of the sea-side
outdoor activities available near Lompoc. The winds and rugged cliffs make
for some really fine ocean sailing and water watching. The weather tends
to the cooler windy side, but that just makes it better to stay active
and walk the beaches. Often one can walk lonely stretches of beach for
some time before meeting another.
Here is a shop which has a mural
of the undersea life common to the nearby coastline.
Oh yes, the coast here really
does look like this, it is so ruggedly beautiful and spectacular. One of
the last places in California where one can overlook a strand of miles
and sometimes see no people. The cliffs at some places plunge a hundred
feet into the pounding surf. This makes for some areas where there are
isolated little beaches that are difficult to get to. Often I have seen
beaches with no footprints but mine visible. People around here seldom
venture from home without their jackets due to the ever changing winds
and plunging temperatures.
Click here to go to Our Murals thumbnails page
Click here to go to Lompoc Main mural page
Click here to go to History murals
Click here to go to Lompoc animal murals
Click here to go to Other murals
Click here to go to Mural In A Day Event
Click here to go to More murals!
Click here to go to Patriotic murals
Click here to go to Rivenrock's Lompoc Links site
