(Photo by Scott Sutherland. Source.)

There is actually a lighthouse, this one in the Pacific, that has been turned into a columbarium.

Called the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, it sits on a rugged island just off the coast of Oregon state. From above it looks like a solitary Greek monastery sitting precipitously on a promontory, one of only a few in the Athosian peninsula to escape a future deluge.

And it just might look like an ideal sanctuary to store your remains, a picture-postcard perfect locale where your family and friends might at least enjoy visiting, with a phenomenal view to alleviate their grief.


(Photo by Stuart Isett for The New York Times.)


(Photo by Stuart Isett for The New York Times.)

Except, of course, for a couple of things:

1) Eternity by the Sea Columbarium, the company who owns the lighthouse and who converted it into a cemetery, lost their license in 1999 because of inaccurate record keeping and because their columbarium isn't technically one. The urns, which are supposed to be placed in niches, rest instead on boards and concrete blocks.

When the company tried to get a new license in 2005, their application was rejected. They now spend most of their time and money on lawsuits filed against them.

2) The sea is so treacherous that a helicopter is the only way to reach it — that is, if the owner of the island, the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex, even allows you passage to the lighthouse in the mild weather of spring and summer when seabirds are nesting.


(Photo by Gary D. Moon. Source.)

But if you're one who's not looking for a peaceful rest in your unconscious days of being dead; actually prefers the thunderous sound of ocean waves constantly slamming into the rocks; doesn't mind sharing quarters with cormorants and common murres; and is thoroughly amused by the image of Charon as a helicopter pilot ferrying your soul across the Styx on whirring oars, then simply contact the proprietors.

They're still making offers for space. Even if they don't have a license.

In the Archives:
A Little Columbarium in the Atlantic
A Little Columbarium Forest in the Arctic
On cemeteries