In the late 1850s it was decided to erect a lighthouse at Cape Point. The location chosen was on Cape Point Peak (238 metres above sea level). The Board of Trade appointed a civil engineer to supply a cast-iron tower for the project and on 20 May 1857 appointed Robert Booty Cousins, clerk of works, to superintend the erection of the lighthouse. His assistant was William Fairburn King, a working engineer. They left London for the Cape in the mail steamer Tynemouth on 1 June 1857. The equipment for the lighthouse had been shipped on board the barque Royal Saxon on 30 May 1857. 

Cousins commenced work on the Cape Point lighthouse only on 16 March 1859 when he received final instructions on the site. Gordon actually never visited the Cape according to all the information available.  He was therefore unaware of the remoteness of the Cape Point site and that no access roads existed at the time. Overland transport of the materials was abandoned after a while and the goods were conveyed by sea. A road was later constructed between Buffel’s Bay and the site. The lighthouse was eventually lit on 1 May 1860. 

With the wreck of the Portuguese liner the Lusitania on 18 April 1911 the decision was taken to move the Cape Point lighthouse to its present location above Cape Point where it now stands, only 87 metres above sea-level. 

Work on the site commenced in 1913 under the supervision of H C Cooper. Again they had huge difficulties getting materials there and they had to use cranes, dynamite, trolleys and trucks. All the sand was taken from a nearby cave, which was carried in bags by labourers up a zigzag path to a height of 250 feet. Water was also carried about half a mile and then sent down a pipe. The weather also played a big part in delaying the project, as the men had trouble staying on their feet when the strong south-easter was blowing. 

The lighthouse was eventually brought into effect after the First World War on 11 March 1919. The light had a candlepower of 500 000 cd. Electricity was also introduced in 1936 and resulted in the candlepower being increased to 19 000 000 cd. Now, the lighthouse is totally automated with radio capabilities and everything else it needs.