It is activated by an automatic elecronic fog detector. The lighthouse was fully automated in 1976, and has been closed to the public ever since. It is operated by the Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team from Port Angeles. The lightkeeper's houses are now occupied by some of the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Point Bennett , whose home port is Port Townsend. The large tower just east of the lighthouse is a Seattle Vessel Traffic Service radar.
Negotiations are underway to open the lighthouse for tours in the near future.
The Port Townsend Marine Science Center is a place where you can get close to the marine world. Four large touch tanks and a dozen-plus aquaria are home to a tremendous variety of local animals and plants. A fully equipped classroom with projecting and dissecting microscopes also functions as a public presentation and workshop space. There is also an underwater camera with a monitor in the center. The Center's two boats are used for off-shore studies in Port Townsend Bay.