NEWPORT — Yaquina Head Lighthouse will officially reopen Saturday after being closed more than six months for a $1 million restoration.

“We just thought this day would never come,” said Joe Ashor, manager of Yaquina Head for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The restoration was the first for the beacon, which has protected ships off the coast since 1873. At 93 feet, it’s Oregon’s tallest lighthouse.

For months, the structure was wrapped in scaffolding, plywood and tarps.

The outside of the lighthouse, once dirty, cracked and faded, now has a fresh coat of paint and is brilliant white.

Other repairs and improvements were made as well, and there are 24 new panes of glass in the lighthouse lens.

An unofficial reopening will occur at 9 a.m. Thursday. The Yaquina Head Lighthouse will remain open every day, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Like any respectable Oregon lighthouse, Yaquina Head has its own ghost stories. A BLM ranger said the spooky tales, while enchanting, are pure bunk.

Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, which also has an interpretive center, trails and tidepools, gets nearly 350,000 visitors annually.

For more information about the lighthouse and activities at Yaquina Head, call the BLM at 541-574-3100 or visit the Yaquina Head Web site at www.blm.gov/

or/resources/recreation/yaquina/.