The Lighthouses of Massachusetts

The front range (matching the light above) is located on the Coast Guard post in downtown Newburyport.

From the junction of Highways 127 and 128 east of Gloucester, go north on Highway 127 for 3.1 miles. Turn left onto Leonard Street and then right onto Elizabeth Road (Norwood Heights) after 0.3 miles. Follow this road, crossing Ocean Avenue, until it tees. Turn right, and then make a quick left onto Wigwam Road. At the end of Wigwam Road turn right onto Lighthouse Road.

Photo courtesy Thom Perry [Flickr]

From the junction of Highways 127 and 128 in downtown Gloucester, go east on East Main Street for just over a mile, where the road will become Eastern Point Road. Continue on Eastern Point Road 0.3 miles to Eastern Point Boulevard. Follow Eastern Point Boulevard 1.6 miles to its end at a parking area near the lighthouse

Photo courtesy pats7288 [Webshots]

Checking out potential locations for the Stephen/Tia wedding, we came across this light. 

Take 128 north from Boston, then 133 east to the T.   The light is dead ahead on the island.

From the northern end of the Highway 1A's bridge over the Porter River in Beverly, follow Highway 22 for just under a mile. Beverly Baptist Church will be on your right at 221 Cabot Street.

Photo courtesy Maria Pratt

From Highway 1A in Salem, go east on Derby Street.

On the way out to Georges Island, we saw this "lighthouse" in the distance.  On the way back, we came much closer and can clearly see that while it is a channel marker, it's not a light.

The light is on Little Brewster Island and officially marks the entrance to Boston Harbor. Built in 1824, this is the oldest lighthouse in New England.  This picture was taken from the Fort on Georges Island.  Careful selection of Harbor Tour might get you closer, but "as for now", this is the best we can do.

This picture was taken from the deck of a Boston Islands "T" boat.  It's still well in the distance, so you are seeing the result of a long lens to get here.

From Route 3 east of Scituate, take First Parish Road east for 0.9 miles to Beaver Dam Road, and then continue east on Beaver Dam Road for 1.3 miles to Jericho Road. Turn left on Jericho Road and follow it around the harbor to Lighthouse Road.

Photo courtesy Pats7288 [Webshots]

One can take a tour with Plymouth Harbor Cruises aboard the Pilgrim Belle, which leaves from Plymouth Harbor

Photo courtesy pwhsu48 [Webshots]

You can view this lighthouse from Provincetown, but the view is a distant, unsatisfactory one. To visit the light, you can make the strenuous, 2.7 mile walk to the lighthouse, or you can take a shuttle or paddle a kayak to Long Point. Flyer's Boat Yard rents kayaks and also provides shuttle service to Long Point.

Photo courtesy pwhsu48 [Webshots]

This lighthouse can be reached by hiking west 1.7 miles through the sand from Race Point Beach. To reach Race Point Beach, take the Race Point exit from Route 6 near Provincetown, and follow Race Point Road until it ends at the beach.  Art's Dune Tours offers trips out to the lighthouse. Art's Dune Tours can be reached at (800) 894-1951.

Photo courtesy Pats7288 [Webshots]

Take Route 6 north on the cape to Eastham and Bracket Road, the third traffic signal from the Eastham/Orleans rotary. Turn right onto Bracket Road and continue until it ends at Nauset Road. Turn left onto Nauset Road and then take the first right onto Cable Road. At the end of Cable Road, turn left onto Ocean View Drive.

Photo courtesy Donna McCraw [Flickr].

Take Route 28 to the roundabout in Chatham, and from there follow Main Street through Chatham. Main Street will make a sharp right turn when it intersects with Shore Road. From this point, go south on Main Street 0.4 miles to the lighthouse.

Photo courtesy Donna McCraw [Flickr].

From Highway 28 in West Chatham, turn south on Barn Hill Road. After 0.4 miles, bear right onto Hardings Beach Road. Continue for 0.8 miles to the parking area at the beach. The lighthouse can be reached from the beach by following a sandy road east along the shore for just over a mile. The lighthouse can also be seen from a distance across Stage Harbor by proceeding south from the rotary in Chatham on Stage Harbor Road. Stage Harbor Road will become Champlain Road after about 1.2 miles. Continue on Champlain Road for about 0.6 miles to Sears Road. Follow Sears Road to the boat launching area

Photo courtesy Pats7288 [Webshots]

The lighthouse can be seen distantly from the beach near the Hyannis Lighthouse, but the best views come from the water. We went blue water sailing aboard the Cat Boat from Hyannis, which afforded closer, but still distant views of the light.

Photo courtesy whitecloud [Webshots]

As you may note from the next 3 listings, there are 3 sets of lights at Nantucket harbor.  This is the range light set.  Even more interesting, we saw these lights as part of a Rhode Island tour, but Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard are part of Massachusetts. 

This is the currently active (plus the range lights shown above) light at the mouth of Nantucket harbor.  It was built in 1902 replacing the light above.  It's small (note how big the 6' something door looks compared to the rest of the tower), but is picturesque enough that others are copying the model.

This light was in danger of erosion, they figure a few more years (or one big storm) and it will be gone.  It was moved in 2007.  This photo (and the coordinates) is the old location.

We got to walk up in the tower (60 steps, plus 9 more on a ladder) and the view is outstanding.

This light is just east of Wood's Hole on Cape Cod.  We took the picture from our cruise, but looking at the people walking along the shore, it is also possible to get here on the ground.

This "light" is actually on a set of rocks which keep the swimming area less turbulent, and "teach" boaters not to come through at the same time.

On the other side of the harbor is this light.  It's a cast iron shrouded brick building, pretty much the same design as Portsmouth harbor (see above).  The keeper's house is long gone, but the area is public owned.

This is on an isolated point of Martha's Vineyard (6 miles of beach to cross to get here).  So we arrived as early as possible, I grabbed this picture with the long lens, added digital filtering to brighten it up, and this is what we get.  More of Martha's Vineyard tomorrow.

At the museum in Egdartown, they have the original Gay Head Fresnel lens on display.  This picture is a composite of the current light, with the original lens reinserted.  This photo is not on webshots.

This light is on a private island.  About the only way to get here is to charter a boat or be a relative of the Forbes family.  We had some extra time on this leg of the cruise, so Jeremy persuaded the captain to take a less direct route and we got this picture.

Take Route 18 south in New Bedford. Route 18 will turn into Water Street and then West Rodney French Boulevard. Continue south and you will see Fort Taber Park.

Photo courtesy pats7288 [Webshots]

From I-195 on the eastern side of the Taunton River, go south on Route 138 to Bradford Avenue. Turn right onto Bradford Avenue, and then right onto Almond Street after three blocks. Follow Almond Street until it ends and turn left into the Borden Light Marine

Photo courtesy queenbgeorge [Webshots]