Rincón Lighthouse (Punta Higüero Lighthouse)

The lighthouse standing at Punta Higüero today is not the original. Spain built the first one here in 1892, a Mediterranean-style structure with elaborate exposed and indented brickwork around the doors and windows, reddish stucco imitating stonework, a lace-like brick cornice. The 1918 earthquake destroyed it. The U.S. Coast Guard rebuilt it in 1922 — a plain cylindrical tower, 70 feet tall, nothing ornate. The town eventually built a park around it. Come for the surf views and the humpback whales passing through in winter.