How close are you?

I'm curious as to what everyone's nearest lighthouse to their home is. Let's see who lives closest to one and who has to travel the farthest to get a fix. It's not a contest, I'm just curious, so go ahead and post even if someone is closer or farther.

I live about a 20 minute drive from Concord Point in Havre de Grace, MD.

[This message has been edited by Larry (edited 05-11-2002).]

I guess the closest lighthouse to me would be Fort Washington on the Potomac River which is about a 30 minute drive from Rockville.
Hal

As the crow flys I am about 3 1/2-4 miles from the Buffington Harbor lighthouse inbetween Gary and East Chicago, IN. Probably about 5-6 miles to drive over there.

Little Traverse Light, located on Harbor Point, Harbor Springs, MI., 3 miles across Little Traverse Bay. In the evening, we can see the "point light" flashing from our home.

On a good day 2 hours to Hannibal, and 6 hours to Chicago Harbor. Or I can just wake up and see lighthouses all around my house.

I'm lucky to live within 30 min. of about 7 lighthouses (I'm including Pierheads and Breakwaters). But Wind Point is the closest, its only about 8 miles away.


Amanda

I'm three miles from the remains of Table Bluff Light which is located on the grounds of Woodley Island Marina in Eureka, CA. Otherwise it's about 90 miles North to Battery Point Light in Crescent City, CA.

Rich

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I'm about 15 minutes from the Fire Island Lighthouse going south. About 30 minutes from the Old Field Lighthouse going north.



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Diane

30 minute drive from Charlotte, 1 Hr 20 from Buffalo and Ft. Niagara, 2 hr from Dunkirk, and not very long from 30 Mile point.

[This message has been edited by Lonnie Davidson (edited 05-11-2002).]

The Michigan City lights are the closest to me, about two hours. I grew up about 20 minutes from the St. Joseph Pier lights though.

The closest unofficial Lighthouse is about 20 miles away in Burlington, NJ. It's a restaurant in a Marina on the Delaware River which is used for navigation, but not listed officially.

The closest official Lighthouse is about 20 miles further south in Paulsboro, NJ. Tinicum Rear Range, also on the Delaware River.

Dennis

Jones Point is probably the closest to me. It is about 20 miles north in ALexandria, Va.

Fort Washington is also close by. Its only about a 25-30 mile drive.

I live about 30 miles southwest of the Chicago lighthouse, and about 40 miles from Grosse Point.

The closest light would probably be Sabine Pass or Sabine Bank on the Gulf Coast. It's about 350 miles to the Gulf Coast.

It's a guess as we haven't been to the Gulf Coast yet.



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Tom & Joyce

I'm about 35 minutes south of the Oswego Lighthouse and maybe just a tad further to the Selkirk Lighthouse.

I'm less than 4 hours from Marblehead, 4 hours from Cleveland so there are quite a few on Erie I'm in that range from. The great lights of SW Mi. are in the 6 hour plus range.

BUD

6 Hours and 49 Minutes; 390 miles.

Thank goodness for Harbour Lights!

I am about the same as distance as my neighbor, John

Tom & Joyce, Sabine Bank probably won't count much longer, as it is being removed. Here is more info .

Our closest lights are Old Michigan City and the Michigan City East Pier Lights. I live about 50 miles north of Pierhead, and it takes me a good 2 hours to make the trip. I sure hope he is watching for the ISP on I-65!

Dave

I'm fortunate in that I'm 30 min (if I obey the speed limit) from the light at South Haven,about 45 min from St Joe's and about 50-60 min from Big Red in Holland. There are about 5 more lights if I expand the circle out to about 2 hrs.

Gary

Pomham Rocks is the closest light to me. It's about sixteen miles from my home. I can drive to every light on Cape Cod in under two hours, every light on Narragansett Bay in less than an hour or so, every light south of Boston in less than an hour, every light in northeastern Massachusetts in just over an hour, Portland Maine area is about two hours, Connecticut lights close to Rhode Island are just over an hour away, but this all depends on traffic conditions. I usually visit lights in the "off-season" to avoid crowds. If I tried to access most of those lights in the summer, you would probably have to double or even triple those times. Having a boat helps lighthouse visits in the summer.

Bob

Hmmm...not you have me realizing I'm not very close to any lighthouses any more....now I just have a half-radius of lighthouses around where I live.
I'm about 30-40 minutes east from the Fire Island lighthouse...40-45 minutes southeast of the Old Field Point lighthouse...40-45 minutes southwest of the Horton Point lighthouse...about 30-40 minutes west of where the Shinnecock lighthouse used to be...and about 45-55 minutes west of the Cedar Island lighthouse (all depends on traffic really...I've gone all the way to Montauk Point in an hour before from where I live now).
Grew up about 5 minutes from where the Port Jefferson Breakwater lighthouse location was and about 15-20 minutes east from Old Field Point Lighthouse.
My office is about 20-25 minutes from the Eatons Neck lighthouse.

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KRISTIN ERIN SCROOPE
kristin@scroope.net
http://www.scroope.net/lighthouses/lhlist.htm
http://www.LILighthouseSociety.org

It is about a 5.5 hr trip SSW to Fort Morgan, near Gulf Shores, AL, to view the Sand Island lighthouse outside the mouth of Mobile Bay. My nearest H-L dealer is a mile away... but I can now, it is sad to say, see more here in my office!!

John

Sounds like alot of lucky people out there! We are about 5 hours from Marblehead, Ohio, or about the same distance to Michigan City, Indiana.

Just about every year we vacation south of Daytona Beach, Florida.(14 hour drive) Ponce Inlet has been visted by us over 15 different times!
[This message has been edited by Randy Kremer (edited 05-12-2002).]

Ok Dave, I guess it's probably closer to two and a half hours to Michigan City for me. But you've got to remember, I've got interstate all the way. You've got to drive on two track roads all the way to Lafayette. Not to mention all the stoplights on your way out of town.

Boca Grande is the closest to me. A good 2 hour drive.

MJ and I are 3 miles from Avery Point Lighthouse (less than 10 minutes)here in Groton, CT. From there we are also able to see New London Harbor Light, New London Ledge Light, North Dumpling Light, Race Rock Light and Little Gull Island Light.

Ron
(CT Keeper)

I'm about the same distance from two lights: St. John's River light to the north is about 16 miles/25 minutes while St. Augustine is 18 miles/25 minutes to the south.

BobM and I are about the same distance from Pomham Rocks Lighthouse in Rhode Island, although I head southeast and he heads southwest. I would venture to say that for me it may be closer to 22 miles. Other than that I'm very fortunate like he is to have many lighthouses within an hours drive from my home and many many more within a two hour drive. I may not get my Harbour Lights as quickly as others, but it sure is nice to live here in Eastern Massachusetts where lighthouses are very close by.

Bert

The closest to us is the Presque Isle Light on Presque Isle in Erie, PA, about a two and a half hour drive from the Pittsburgh area.

Barb

Only about 20 minutes from the Barge Canal Lighthouse on Lake Oneida, and about 35 minutes from Oswego Light.

Sheryl

We are 4 miles from Big Red and around 12 miles to the Grand Haven lights. So I guess you could say we are lucky we don't have far to drive to see them up close.

2beacons

I'm probably a good hour West of Sandy Hook/Twin Lights, Jeffries Hook and Lady Liberty if traffic cooperates.

Well I am now 150 miles closer since I moved to the Valley of the Sun. I am about the same as Saint John and Ruthie. And I second Johns thanks For HL!!

Dale

Based on my screen name about 20 mins to Eastpoint, 35 min to Finns Point Rear Range, and 45 min to Cape May.

One of the nicest byproducts of living on Cape Cod is the close proximity of so many lighthouses such as Highland, Chatham, Nobska, Gay Head and Monomoy, to name only a few. Either by car or by boat, I'm only 10-30 minutes away from all of them....except in the summer when they are all overnight trips due to the traffic!!

45 minutes (in good traffic) to Yerba Buena Light in San Francisco Bay.

It's about a 5 minute drive to Seaside Light in Bridgeport. The Bridgeport Breakwater/Tongue Point Light is probably a similar distance but, since I can't actually get to it (it's on the grounds of a local utility company), I will favor the one at Seaside Park.

And, I can make it to the Stratford Point Lighthouse is about 12-15 minutes.

RFoster,

Thirty years ago, I lived on Beach St. #1 across from the then-newly-on-line Millstone Pt. nuc power plant in Waterford. I was stationed on the USS Fulton (AS-11) at State Pier, New London - across from Groton. I got regular optical & radar views of those lights - the NL Ledge being my favorite. Really neat place to live!

I am now a displaced Brooklyn, New Yorker residing in central Alabama... no lighthouses for hours!

My most enjoyable lighthouse tour thus far was the St. Simon's Lighthouse, GA - a good 9-10 hr from here (Hard to get there from here...).

John

I know what you mean cclighthousebuff - same deal on Long Island




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KRISTIN ERIN SCROOPE
kristin@scroope.net
http://www.scroope.net/lighthouses/lhlist.htm
http://www.LILighthouseSociety.org

I'm just 5 minutes away from the Tarrytown Light. I get a nice drive though Sleepy Hollow on the way.


shirin

My Wife and I live in the Denver, CO Metro so any lighthouse fix for us requires a plane flight with the closest being the west coast probably San Francisco. That is about a hour and 40 minute flight from here.

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Randall Ronne

The closest to me is Jones Point lighthouse on the Potomac river just under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Not a very well known light. About a 30 minute drive for me.

Bolivar is the winner by a LONG SHOT. Here in Texas a LONG SHOT 1 oz ooops I mean ~40 mile counting a boat ride from Galvaston ol' Galvaston. The next real lighthouse is Matagorda 3 hour drive and a boat ride to the island. Of course in Texas all that is just a hop skip and a jump from my house.

Chuck

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bigdragon

I can get to 3 different lighthouses in about 30 minutes each: Alki Point and West Point, both in Seattle, and Mukilteo in Mukilteo, WA.

Larry

If I drive about 18 miles east of my home I'll arrive at the Bay Bridge and a view of Sandy Point Shoal Light.

As the Sea Gulls fly it's only about 15 miles from my house to Middle Bay Light and about 25 miles to Sand Island or Mobile Point lights but by land the only one you can get to is Mobile Point and to do that you ether have to drive around the bay about a 1 1/2 hr drive (or) take the farry across from Dauphin Island which would still be about the same amout of time. But the good thing is that you can see Sand Island Lighthouse in the distance once your there so it's two for one! I am still looking for a good location to see Middle Bay from land.

And then there is Pensacola Lighthouse, it's about one hr and 15 min.s to my east in FL. And Biloxi Light about one hr. to my west in MS.

Stephanie

We're now 12 miles from North Head and 14 miles from Cape Disappointment, both in Ilwaco WA. And of course, by driving 350 miles down the Oregon Coast we can see another 8 or so.

Dixie

I am close to every lighthouse in the World!!!

And I'm close to Paul. lol!

The closest LH to me is the Mark Twain Memorial LH in Hannibal, MO, which interestingly enough, I have not yet visitied! We hope to make a day trip there this summer as it is about 2 hours north of my home. The next closest LH is Chicago Harbor, which is about 5 hours away, depending on traffic and who is behind the wheel!

chris g

During normal driving conditions, not the summer snail trails on I64, I am within comfortable range of the following lights.

Middle Ground 25 min.
Old Point & Thimble Shoals 30 min
New Point 1 hr. 10 min
Cape Henry 1 hr 30 min
Currituck & Bodie Island 3 hr
Hatteras 4 hr 15 min

Moby

We're just outside Indy so about 3 hrs to Michigan City. 5 years ago, I know it doesn't count Kate and I lived 1/4 mile from the St. Joe, MI light.

Dave

Grosse Point, about 15 miles.

Mike

How close are you? Part II

[This message has been edited by engbrady (edited 05-21-2002).]