Historic Lighthouse

For the days when you can’t quite make up your mind, when you want to keep a foot in each camp, visit the Fenwick Island Lighthouse in Delaware. Or Maryland, depending on your viewpoint. It’s right on the Mason-Dixon Line, which divided North from South in the American Civil War of 1861-65. It’s just under 90 feet tall, the lens was made in France, and when the tower was built in 1857-58, it cost more than $23,000. Fenwick Island is on Route 1, an easy day trip south from Baltimore or Washington.

Thought you’d seen all the San Francisco landmarks? Not quite. Check out Fort Point Light, tucked in under the Golden Gate Bridge. The current light, which was in use 1864-1934, is on a site that has had a light since 1853. The 27-foot short light combined with the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge makes a huge light that can be seen for miles at sea. It’s now maintained by the National Park Service.

North of San Francisco, on the often-foggy coast of Mendocino County, the 1909 Point Cabrillo Lighthouse warned lumber schooners off the rocky shore. The light, north of Mendocino and south of Caspar, has been restored (including the Fresnel lens) and is open to visitors. The head lightkeepers’s house is a B&B. It’s an easy day trip from San Francisco.

On the often-foggy coast of Maine, the light at Portland Head has been guiding mariners to port since it was first lit in 1791. George Washington, the first U.S. president, appropriated some of the funds used for its construction. You may recognize it from Edward Hopper’s widely reproduced 1927 painting. The light is in the town of Cape Elizabeth, a short drive south of Portland.

Just 30 miles west of the mouth of the Niagara River, in Somerset, New York, you’ll find the 30-Mile Point Light. It was built in the 1870s to mark sandbars that were, and are, dangerous to navigation. In 1780, the sandbars claimed a British troop ship and payroll. The original light is now a museum, with an active light a bit west of it in Golden Hill State Park. Visitors have reported strange events, and some people say the lighthouse building is . . . haunted. It’s east of Buffalo and west of Rochester, on the shore of Lake Ontario, and a pleasant day trip from either city.

On the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the 1848 Biloxi Lighthouse still stands, even after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, as shown in the photo. The interior is being restored, but you can view the tower from the outside. It’s on Highway 90 at Porter Avenue, Biloxi.

The 1884 lighthouse on Sanibel Island, Florida, is made of weathered metal and looks more like a water tower than a “typical” lighthouse. The building style was chosen to help it withstand the hurricanes that regularly hit Florida’s Gulf Coast. While you’re on Sanibel, you can pick up some beautiful seashells by the seashore. Sanibel Island is easy to reach from neighboring Captiva Island, or from the mainland city of Fort Myers. The lighthouse is at the end of Periwinkle Way.

If you are in charge of an ore tanker on Lake Superior, you do not want to get too close to the rock face at Two Harbors, Minnesota. Compasses aren’t always reliable in that area, because so much iron ore in the landscape distorts magnetic readings. The 1910 Split Rock Lighthouse, 54 feet tall, sits on a cliff more than 100 feet above the cold lake waters, and its light can be seen for more than 20 miles. It’s now lighted only annually on the anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the subject of Gordon Lightfoot’s 1976 song.

Nineteen-century vacationers going from hot eastern U.S. cities to cooler seaside towns in New England traveled by sea, and many of them sailed past Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island. The redbrick Victorian Southeast Block Island Lighthouse, built in 1875, was styled like a large manor house of the time. The light, on Monhegan Trail, is now a National Historic Site. It’s easily reached by ferry to Block Island from Newport or Providence.