Category: Government
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Franklin Island Light
Muscongus Bay, Maine (August 2009) The Franklin Island light (map) is the first lighthouse featured in this video I took while traveling Muscongus Bay in southeastern Maine. There has been a lighthouse on this rock since 1807 — one of the earliest places along the Maine coastline to be lighted — although this current structure…
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Fort Point Lighthouse
Stockton Springs, Maine (August 2009) Fort Point seems to be an odd name for a lighthouse but it makes perfect since once you understand the history of the area. There was once an older structure along this point on Cape Jellison at the mouth of the Penobscot River. Literally there was a fort here, Fort…
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Fenwick Island Lighthouse & Transpeninsular Line
Fenwick Island, Delaware, USA (2008) A lighthouse rose above remote Fenwick Island in 1859. It filled a critical 60-mile gap between Cape Henlopen and Assateague Island (map). The structure housed a third order Fresnel lens with an 83 foot focal plane in its slender white tower. Amazingly the same Fresnel lens operates today. This stands…
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Currituck Beach Lighthouse
Corolla, North Carolina (March 2012) Our trip to Currituck Beach Light provided a nice opportunity for a drive-by sighting. Unfortunately that’s the best we could do during the winter. It’s open and free to the public between Easter and Thanksgiving (with a small fee to climb the lighthouse tower). However it’s closed during the winter,…
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Astoria to Florence, Oregon
Oregon USA’s Northern Coastline (May 1998) We took a detour about ten miles west of Tillamook, Oregon to the Three Capes Scenic Drive, putting most of the Sunday traffic behind us. We stopped first at Cape Meares and climbed up to the red lens of the lighthouse (map). Cape Meares Lighthouse Cape Meares is Oregon’s…
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Cape Hatteras Light
Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Buxton, North Carolina (March 2012) The Cape Hatteras Light dominates the surrounding terrain. Unquestionably it serves as the most well-known lighthouse along the mid-Atlantic and maybe the nation. The black-and-white spiral paint job beckons tourists down the spine of the Outer Banks. It takes more than an hour of driving south…
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Seattle, Washington to Astoria, Oregon
Including Cape Disappointment (1998 and 2012) Our first full day began in a southerly direction. We woke early at a generic hotel outside Seatac Airport, seriously jet-lagged, and arrived in Olympia while most sane people slept-in. It was Saturday. Eventually the Farmers Market opened and we wandered the booths. We climbed the hill to the…
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Bodie Island Light Station
Cape Hatteras National SeashoreNags Head, North Carolina (March 2012) Bodie Island Light Station The lighthouse on Bodie Island (pronounced “Body” after an early family of the same name) doesn’t have quite the same level of fame or recognition as its cousin on Cape Hatteras but it’s certainly no less important. All of the lights along…
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Biloxi Lighthouse
Biloxi, Mississippi (April 2010) The Biloxi Lighthouse (map) is a symbol of the city, of hope and resilience in the wake of major hurricanes that have scoured the Gulf Coast for centuries. This is perhaps the most easily approachable lighthouse of any I’ve visited. Anyone can take Interstate 110 directly to the heart of Bilox…
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Beaver Island Lighthouses
Beaver Island, Michigan, USA (September 2000) There are a multitude of lighthouses in Lake Michigan within vicinity of Beaver Island. Two of them can be visited on the island itself. Beaver Island Harbor (St. James) Lighthouse A lighthouse came into view as the ferry approached Beaver Island. The ferry pointed straight towards St. James, the…