Facts You Didn't Know About National Historic Landmarks

Perhaps most famous for the maximum-security prison it housed from 1934-1963, Alcatraz Island also boasts the West Coast's first lighthouse, built in 1854 to help ships navigate the notoriously foggy San Francisco Bay. The bay, of course, helped make Alcatraz impossible to break free from. Despite what you might think from the movies, there were no confirmed prisoner escapes from the island, which became a National Historic Landmark in 1986.