Monday, November 10, 2008

The Great NJ Lighthouse Challenge - (4) Cape May Lighthouse Museum and (5) Cape May Lighthouse

The original lens from the Cape May Lighthouse now resides in the Cape May Lighthouse Museum on Route 9. After we left East Point we pointed in the direction of Cape May, not quite following the written directions supplied by the Challenge website and happened upon the Cape May Lighthouse Museum on Route 9. This was added to the challenge this year. The lens is housed in a barn-like structure along with other artifacts, but the museum itself didn't appear to be quite finished yet.

We ventured in to get a better look at the lens. You are looking at a very impressive glass structure. The light you are seeing is a regular lightbulb suspended inside the lens housing. You can see from the second picture that, depending on the angle, the light becomes magnified.
Next we headed to Cape May itself. Before visiting the lighthouse, we detoured down to Sunset Beach. This may appear at first glance to be some sort of sea creature, however it is not. It is what is left of the concrete ship that was sunk just off of Cape May at Sunset Beach. You can find more intelligent information at the Sunset Beach website.

This is a shot of the apex of the Cape May Lighthouse taken last year. Below you can see the entire Lighthouse. The parking lot is always hopping at the lighthouse. There is a small environmental museum center in the park there. (And a half decent bathroom facility which is very important when you're on the road all day!)



There also is a birding area in Cape May near the lighthouse.

The picture below I took at Sunset Beach. I really like the way that the sun reflected on the water. You should be able to click on that picture to get the full effect.

To be continued........

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