The Great NJ Lighthouse Challenge - (6) Hereford Inlet and (7) Absecon

I know I am really behind on posting the remaining stops in our Lighthouse Challenge weekend.


The next stop on the tour is Hereford Inlet. This again, is one of the "house" lighthouses although this one is on the Atlantic. Hereford Inlet is just north of Wildwood. I do believe that this is the first time that I have taken a picture from this angle. I thought the flowers along the fence looked so pretty.
When you go around behind the lighthouse there is a beautiful garden with shady paths and an herbal garden too. The path takes you up to the sea. It is lined with gorgeous flowers, and in the past, those flowers have been covered with butterflies. This year it was a bit cold and windy and I don't remember seeing any butterflies.


Back again in the front between the fence and the building is a gazing ball. If you look closely at the ball you should be able to see two people reflected in it.

Here is Absecon Lighthouse. To get to this lighthouse you have to travel through Atlantic City. Well, not really through Atlantic city, but around it. It is kind of odd to see this lighthouse a block in from the ocean and partially obscured from the sea by highrises.

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........

The Great NJ Lighthouse Challenge - (3) East Point

Our third leg of the trip was one of the longest. We traveled through Salem County to get to East Point Lighthouse. In a previous post I wrote about a shack along the side of the road just before you get to this lighthouse.
When we got there it was high tide and very blustery. The lighthouse helpers had moved their tent up next to the building which takes a little away from the picture, so I decided to post some of the pictures from last year's challenge.
This is one of the prettiest settings for all of the lighthouses in my opinion. On a nice day at low tide you can walk along the shoreline and get a glimpse of East Point throught the grasses.

I tried to get a shot of each of the light sources in the pictures that I took last year, and again, I will include them in my posts. You will see how very different they all are.

I hope you are enjoying the trip!

To be continued...........

The Great NJ Lighthouse Challenge - (2) Finn's Point Rear Range Lighthouse

Finn's Point Rear Range Lighthouse

We headed on down Route 295 and took a bathroom break at the truck stop off of Exit 2 before continuing our journey.

This is another wrought-iron open-frame lighthouse. The picture may be a little deceiving as the flag pole is much shorter than the actual lighthouse.

From the top of this lighthouse you can see the Delaware Memorial Bridge and Fort Mott State Park.

I had worn my husbands hooded Yankee sweatshirt for this trip because it was quite chilly. It was here in Finn's Point that I was scorned for that. This was definitely Philly fan area!

We quickly checked in, I snapped a picture and we were on the road again to the next stop.

To be continued.......

The Great New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge - (1) Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse

On Saturday, October 18, HWNSNBP and I set out to do the Great New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge. This was our 8th challenge (the challenge is 9 years old - we missed the first one). The challenge consists of visiting all 11 of the lighthouses that are currently open and accessible on the third weekend in October. We started doing the challenge the year after our youngest graduated high school to fill our weekends with something other than the football games we were used to going to as either football parents or band parents.

There are 20+ lighthouses in New Jersey, and you might be surprised to know that not all of them are on the ocean side. New Jersey is a peninsula - like Florida - which means that it is surrounded by water and connected to the main part of the land by an isthmus. We have the Atlantic on the east coast and the Delaware River on the west coast - the isthmus is the portion that connects us to New York state.

There are lighthouses on the Delaware River - some are lightships in the river and there are others that are on land. Since we are located in what's referred to as Central Jersey, we choose to start on the Delaware and make our way around the Cape and up to Sandy Hook by Sunday afternoon. A little over 400 miles and a lot of time in the car together.

This is the first stop on the challenge - Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse in Paulsboro which, if you climb it, has a spectacular view of Philidelphia across the river. It's just about an hour's drive from our home and it was a bit nippy that morning.

Each year Challenge participants receive a token at the lighthouses they visit. You do not have to climb the lighthouse to qualify for the Challenge - you only have to show up. Over the course of the last 7 years, I have climbed almost all of them. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly difficult for me to climb so this year I only did one - the last one. Even though we don't climb, it is the perfect time of year to travel throughout the state and we always come across things that we hadn't seen or noticed before. You might remember my post from last month about the shack. This year they also added two museums to the route and I will post a picture of them also.

So, over the next few days, interspersed with my "craft-related" posts, I will be bringing you info and pictures from the Lighthouse Challenge. I hope you will enjoy. If you would like to find out more about the Challenge itself you can visit http://www.njlhs.org/ for more information.