Cliff-side views of the Chesapeake Bay, lighthouses, and a walk through the woods, the hike to Turkey Point Lighthouse has it all. As have several other state parks in Maryland, Elk Neck State Park was the result of the generosity of a major landholder. In 1936, naturalist Dr. William Abbott bequeathed his holdings along the […]
lighthouses
Have a Hauntingly Great Time in Lewes DE!
Lewes, DE is rich with historic happenings, legends, and tall-tales, many of them involving a touch of the paranormal. From the founding of Lewes in 1631 and the massacre of its settlement the following year, to the unknown sailors’ cemetery at the Cape May-Lewes Ferry, some residents never seem to depart. Lewes is more than […]
Swimming in History on the Miss Hampton II Harbor Tour
A great way to introduce yourself to the Hampton Roads area is to take a harbor tour out of historic downtown Hampton, VA, on the Miss Hampton II. Hampton is swimming in history, which the harbor tour brings to life. Four hundred years of European settlement is highlighted, from the earliest arrival of European ships […]
Baltimore’s Waterfront Promenade
My friend suggested Baltimore’s Waterfront Promenade as a daytrip destination earlier this year, and we’d been waiting for a weekend which we both had some free time to go explore it in its entirety — or almost in its entirety. I am still amazed that I can live within minutes of some of these daytrip […]
Six Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses You Need to See!
These are six of my favorite lighthouses in the Mid-Atlantic region — from a variety of locations, including the Atlantic Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, and Delaware Bay. During the summer months you can find boat tours of both the Chesapeake and Delaware bays that will take you to the various lighthouses; many lighthouses you can drive […]
Great Lakes Lighthouses and Why Michigan Is So Great About Its Lighthouses
This is the last of five posts about our late summer trip to Mackinaw City and Michigan’s upper peninsula; we visited the area after bringing my son up to college in Michigan. Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse was built in 1892 in the same northern park that was originally allotted for its construction. This lighthouse would […]
Mackinac Island
This is the fourth of five posts about our late summer trip to Mackinaw City and Michigan’s upper peninsula; we visited the area after bringing my son up to college in Michigan. The Victorian Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. After exploring Mackinaw City, we wanted to go over to St Ignace to explore it too. […]
The Ghost Ships of Lake Superior
This week we depart the Mid-Atlantic states for a brief journey across Michigan, which brought us all the way up to Lake Superior to see shipwrecks underwater, back down to Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island — a magical place — and then down the coast of Lake Huron to visit a few lighthouses. This post […]
Out Foxed at Island Beach State Park
A colleague, upon reading several of my blogs, suggested I check out Island Beach State Park. Island Beach is currently one of the most popular state parks in New Jersey and attracts approximately one million visitors every year. With beautiful, pristine beaches, I was surprised when he suggested that winter is a great time to […]
A Rare Opportunity to Tour the Thomas Point Shoal LIghthouse
On the last weekend in September, my sister and I went on one of the few tours offered every year to the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse. I mean, not just a victory lap around the outside like countless folks in their boats, but get off the boat and climb up through the hatches to the […]
Westchester Riverwalk in Tarrytown, NY
We were actually playing Ingress — I’ve blogged about how that game has led us into accidental day trips before — and I saw a “mission” called Riverwalk. It sounded promising — we were only a mile or so away from the Hudson River and I was hoping for some lovely views. We were having […]
Cape May’s Victorian Mansions, a Lighthouse, and a Lookout Tower
Cape May, NJ, is the original beach resort on the East Coast. Its collection of authentic Victorian mansions makes it a destination for anyone who prefers the intimate setting of a bed and breakfast inn over those horrible beach hotels found at other beach resorts. I’ve visited Cape May a handful of times over the […]
Delaware Bay Lighthouses
Seagulls stand watch above the Miah Maull Shoal Lighhouse. Lighthouses stand as solitary sentinels signaling unseen danger — the peaks and valleys that map the geography under water. Mysterious, silent, and now lonely — almost all lighthouses are automated, and almost all are slowly deteriorating back into the waters they have protected our sailors and […]
Two Days and Eleven Lights: Day Two
This is part two of Chesapeake Lighthouses, Southern Expedition, a two-day excursion to 11 lighthouses around the Chesapeake Bay. From Tangier Island, we headed straight over to Onancock, VA, arriving around 5:30 p.m. We unloaded our bags, and headed up the street to our respective inns (Captain Jack arranged rides for those in the group […]
Two Days and Eleven Lights: Day One
My sister and I had been on the shorter “Passage to Five” excursion offered by Chesapeake Lights in May; before we’d even gotten off the boat that day, we’d signed up for the once annual 2-day trip that takes place every August. Update May 2021: Unfortunately, Chesapeake Lights no longer offers lighthouse tours. The lighthouses […]