Point Pinos was built in the Cape Cod style with a tower rising up through its center. Three sites were proposed for the structure by the coastal survey. The contractor selected the most inland of all the proposed sites as it was the easiest to obtain the stones used in the building. This location greatly affected the effectiveness of the light by reducing the light's arc of visibility. Point Pinos still rests on the site chosen by the contractor.

Point Pinos was completed in 1854. Its third order Fresnel Lens came from the Light at Fort Point in San Francisco. The Fort Point Light was torn down shortly after it was completed to make way for the new military facility that was to inhabit the Point.

Emily Fish was the most famous of all the lightkeepers at Point Pinos. She was known as the "Socialite Keeper." On April 18, 1906, Emily recorded in her log, " At 5:30 a.m., violent and continued earthquake jarred the lens cause it to bend the connecting tube and loosened the lens, so it was unstable, also enlarged the crack in the tower...the water in the wood house tank was thrown on the floor." Two days later, Emily and her assistant Que would learn of the fate of San Francisco. The tower was badly damaged but the lens itself survived. A year later it was replaced with a tower of the same style but made of reinforced concrete.

Emily retired at age 71 in 1914. She died in 1931.

Electricity came to Point Pinos in 1915. Eleven years later a fog signal was installed. The neighbors complained a great deal. Different signals were tried to satisfy both the fishermen and the neighbors, no satisfactory answer was found and the complaints continued.

The site was automated in 1975. It was licenced to the Pacific Grove Historical Society the same year. It is opened on Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

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