With hundreds upon hundreds of lighthouses in the USA alone, we’ve compiled a list of some of the most significant beacons that currently or once operated along our coastal shores.
Sandy Hook Lighthouse - Middletown, NJ
This is the oldest working lighthouse in the country built in 1764 and boasts a light range of 19 nautical miles. The Lighthouse Keepers’ Quarters and barn are open for visits daily and the climb to the top of the lighthouse requires the ability to ascend 95 spiraling steps with a rope banister. To enter the lens house you will climb a ladder and eventually enter through the floor of the room.
Huntington Lighthouse - Huntington, NY
This square castle-esque Beaux-Arts style lighthouse was established in the 1850s but was never lit until 1912. After years of neglect, deterioration and a brush with demolition, the local citizens restored the offshore gem that now offers tours to those willing to take a boat from Gold Star Battalion Beach.
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse - Buxton, NC
As the tallest brick lighthouse in the world and the flat out loftiest in our nation, Hatteras is 208 feet from the foundation to rooftop. To reach the light, one must commit to 268 steps. After the ocean had eroded the beach considerably, “The Move of the Millenium” underwent progress in 1999. 23 days and floods of onlookers later, Hatteras was safely positioned 1,500 feet away from the Atlantic Ocean’s tide. The structure remains the tallest piece of masonry ever moved.
Pensacola Lighthouse - Pensacola, FL
The oldest and tallest of its kind on the Gulf Coast, this lighthouse hosts seven days a week public tours as well as moonlit views from the top by night. Up the ante on a two hour Ghost Hunt in the Keeper’s Quarters and the top of the tower where clairvoyants vouch for Travel Channel and SciFi’s TAPS team after they labeled the location one of the most haunted lighthouses in the states.
Rose Island Lighthouse - Newport, RI
Ready for your terms of duty? Collect money, manage systems, man the radio, raise and lower the flag, log keeping, clean the lighthouse and balance various chores required of Nightly Relief Keepers, Full-Time Keeper for a week or Regular Keeper Vacation Week. Yes, this is a lighthouse keeping vacation! Aside from your daily obligations, leisure time at the beach and exploring the island.
