Hiking Slowly
After many days of researching lighthouses and realizing that I wasn't going to be able to get up close and personal with each one, I started looking for areas where I could at least see more than one at a time. This, it turns out, is very doable.
Starting out on my drive in Connecticut, I was really excited to have ten lights on my schedule for the next two days. Wide open freeways surrounded by lush, green forests, crossing over many bridges, exploring parks on shores of the east coast, and getting to see TEN lighthouses. That's the stuff this trip was all about.
My first stop was at a waterfront park with a promenade along the shore. According to my research, I would be able to walk out to the flagpole and have an amazing view of the Fayerweather Island Lighthouse. Well, when I got there, there were signs all over saying that a permit was needed to park and they were only available for purchase at the city office. So, instead of taking a nice morning walk, I drove along the road looking for the flagpole and hoping I could pop out really quick for a picture. Well, it turns out that flagpole was inside a private yacht club, so I wasn't going there either. Fortunately, I was able to stop for a quick photo, but it was from really far away. Also known as Black Rock Harbor Lighthouse, Fayerweather was built in 1808 and only had nine keepers in its 125 years in operation. The light was decommissioned in 1934 and is now maintained by private citizens.
The next park was much more friendly. I did have to pay an entry fee, but there was a ton of parking, a huge grassy area with shady trees, sandy beach access along the entire peninsula, and two lighthouses. I was able to get out and stretch my legs and meander along the shoreline to take in the amazing views. I could see the Southwest Ledge Lighthouse on the New Haven breakwater. These structures amaze me because a lot of them are really just houses built on raised platforms out in the ocean. The idea of a house sitting out there where the waves can crash against the frame is crazy to me. And then where do you tie the boat? I mean, the whole point of the lighthouse is because the water is rough and tumultuous, so won't the boat crash into the building? It is baffling. And beautiful. Southwest Ledge is a cast iron structure sitting atop a cast iron tube with a 24 ft diameter. First casting her light in January of 1877, she was automated in 1953 and is still in operation today, nearly 150 years later.
I continued around the peninsula and came to Five Mile Point Light. Being on the mainland, this structure does not include living quarters. The original light was a 30-foot high wooden structure built in 1805 and was not very visible. The current light, an 80-foot high brownstone tower, was built in 1847 and remained in operation until the Southwest Ledge Lighthouse was built. She now sits as an Historical Monument in the beautiful Lighthouse Point Park.
Heading back to the car (and out of the humidity) I was off to my next stop. On this day I was going to college. UConn sits on the Avery Point peninsula and is home to the Avery Point Lighthouse. The path from the parking lot leads along the edge of the peninsula, through an art installation, and brings you not only to the light, but also to the most beautiful, stone building. Built in 1903, the Branford House was originally a 31-room summer "cottage". Since then, it has been owned by the state and then by the US Coast Guard, who bulldozed much of the lavish grounds to make room for barracks. As a requirement of ownership, the Coast Guard built the lighthouse in 1942, making Avery Point Lighthouse the last to be built in Connecticut. Both Branford House and Avery Point Lighthouse are now owned and maintained by the University.
From the shore, you can also see the New London Ledge Lighthouse. It's literally a giant brick house sitting on a concrete pier out in the middle of the ocean. It's crazy. The light was placed in operation in 1909, automated in 1984, and was the last remaining "manned" lighthouse in Long Island Sound when she was destaffed in 1987. The light is still in operation today.
Beavertail has a long history of shining light to warn sailors of the rocky shoreline. The very first lighted beacon was erected in 1712 and tended to by members of the native Narragansett Tribe. A wooden lighthouse was erected in 1749, the third to be built on the Atlantic coast. The original structure, shining 69 feet above sea level, was destroyed by fire in 1753 and replaced shortly thereafter by a stone structure that towered 98 feet above the sea. This second structure was badly damaged from both weather and being set on fire by the British as they receded after the Revolutionary War. The current lighthouse was built to replace the crumbling structure in 1856 and is still in operation today.
I didn't know it at the time, but Beavertail Lighthouse would be the last of my lighthouse visits on this trip. I can't complain, though. I saw over a dozen lighthouses, some right up close and even more way off shore, guarding rivers and lakes and inlets and oceans, in both salt water and unsalted. So, standing on the foundation where the third lighthouse in the country had been built, looking out over the vast, dark Atlantic, and watching the clouds form overhead as a storm rolled in seems to be the perfect ending for this adventure.
