visiting New England

We start our Spring Break Friday and are flying to Providence RI. Goal is to see as many lighthouses as possible in a week. I need suggestions. If anyone knows of good places to stay, eat etc. I would appreciate the information. We have never been to the New England area.

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Jo Ann/Texas

Welcome Aboard, Jo Ann!!! I'm going to yield on your question, to some of the folks who know that area alot better than I do. But its going to be interesting to hear the responces, since I'm planning on making my first LH journey to Maine, later on this year. 'Hope you have a wonderful trip!!

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Brent

Hi Jo Ann,
Check out this post and look through the 'Map Room' and 'Lighthouse' topics.
http://www.lighthousekeepers.com/forums/Forum15/HTML/000057.html
have a great trip,
Bob

I too will be on a lighthouse hunt in Maine early September. We will be watching this post. The map room is a great place to start. I sent for the Map and Guide to Maine's Lighthouses.

Monty

Hi JoAnn

Welcome to the forum. I hope you have a wonderful time in New England.

Joanne

I've stayed at the Best Western in North Kingston, RI. Nothing special, just nice clean reasonable price and a good restaurant for breakfast. It's not too far from the Newport area. You take Rt 1 to RI 108 and go towards Newport. You go over the first bridge and you are on Jamestown Island. Try and get to Beavertail- it's all the way at the southern tip of the island. You can see Castle Hill across the water if the weather is clear. If you go to Jamestown Harbor there is a "taxi" that will take you to Rose Island (don't miss this one , it's the best of the bunch) past Goat Island and will allow you to get off in Newport walk around and go back. You can see what was Ida Lewis (Lime Rock) in the Marina area, but the LH is no longer on the building.You can see it from the parking area of Ft Adams Park.If you want to get to Castle Hill go past FT Adams and get on Ocean Dr and go just past the CG station and take the road for the Castle Hill Inn. You can get a partial view of Plum Beach from the bridge to Newport from Jamestown. I can't remember the name of the road, but it is right off Rt 1A just north of the exit from RI 108 , but if you go down it you go thru a residential area and get to a turnaround wher you can get a better view of Plum Beach.We also saw Poplar Point in Wickford a nice little town that has various shops including a HL dealer. The LH is on Poplar Ave, it is a private residence but you can get a view of it from the public street.You can get to Port Judith just by following RI 108 south . I have also stayed at the Holiday Inn on Rt 1 in South Kingston also a nice, clean place but a little pricier. This time of year you should be able to get better prices.i suggest also that you go to the index of links. there is great information on RI lights there.The don't miss lights are IMHO are Beavertail, Port Judith, Rose Island and the lights on Block Island if you have a day to spend there. Hope this helps sorry it is so long. Dennis

JoAnn

Welcome to the forums. I agree with Dennis, we visited Point Judith last summer when the hurricaine was making fabulous waves there. We saw people in wet suits surfing the waves right in front of the lighthouse.

Like Dennis said, if you have the time, do take the ferry to Block Island and visit the lighthouses there. The island is charming, you'll want to visit there again. Have a great vacation.

~Dale

Hi JoAnn - You may want to continue to the south in RI and visit Watch Hill (in Westerly). Just over the border, into CT, you would be able to see Stonington Light (one of the HL society pieces was of this light). The museum at the lighthouse isn't open until Memorial Day though. About one hour south of Providence is the Groton/New London area of CT. At the Avery Point Campus of the University of Connecticut you would be able to see New London Ledge Lighthouse and on the New London side of the Thames River sits New London Harbor Light (site of the fourth lighthouse in the U.S.). Also located in this area are the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Museum (with a wonderful fresnel lens and other memorabilia) home the U.S. Coast Barque Eagle (which will be leading the parade of about thirty-odd tall ships into New London Harbor and up the Thames River this coming June). Also, the Nautilus museum (home to the world's first nuclear powered submarine which you may tour) and the U.S. Naval Submarine Base. In Mystic, CT (right next door) there is the famous Mystic Seaport with it's own lighthouse (replica of Brant Point) and many ships and maritime heritage museum. The replica of the Amistad is being built at the Seaport and is due to be launched this summer.

If you are are planning on traveling north from Providence (say into NH and ME) I'd recommend the following lights: Portsmouth Harbor (Newcastle, NH), Cape Neddick (Nubble Light) (York Beach, ME), Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth, ME, Portland Head (the grand-daddy of New England Lights. Then, also in Portland, ME you should stop and see Portland Breakwater and Spring Point Ledge Lights. Pemaquid (near Damriscotta, ME) is great but maybe alittle too far north for the time you have (depending on what other direction you are heading).

To the east of Providence is Cape Cod which has beautiful senery and lights such as Nobska (in Woods Hole), Chatham (in Chatham), Nauset (in Nauset), Highland (aka Cape Cod Light) in Truro and Race Point (out near the tip, Provincetown. If you visit the Cape be sure to stop and see Chris and Maria Alex at Collector's World, two of the nicest people you ever want to meet (they sell Harbour Lights in their wonderful collectibles shop located in Eastham).

I would be happy to provide more detailed information for you if you care to email me. Have a wonderful time in New England. I look forward to seeing a post about your trip.

Ron
(CT Keeper)

[This message has been edited by RFoster (edited 03-08-2000).]

Welcome aboard! I would vote to head north to Maine. The rocky coast is spectacular and the lighthouses equally so. Portland is a great city for dining, sightseeing, and ofcourse lighthouses (Portland Head, Cape Elizabeth, Portland Breakwater). We stayed at the Holiday Inn-by-the Bay and had a waterfront room. We loved watching the Nova Scotia ferry loading every night. Old town Portland has great shops, used bookstores and all kinds of restaurants. We visited Portland Head at low tide so that we could climb down the rocks near the base of the lighthouse and explore the tidal pools left behind by the tide. Great sea life! Try 'Cafe Always'on Middle Street in Portland. The lobster and cheese burritos and corning pudding are wonderful! Or if you want to stay in a historic inn, The Danforth is quite romantic!
Have a great trip!!

After reading all these WONDERFUL suggestions retirement is just not coming soon enough . We just can't seem to get away right now for any lighthouse trips. Hopefully, soon.

KYKEEPER - Pat

Thanks for all the wonderful information. We can not wait until tomorrow so we can start this wonderful HL trip. I couldn't believe so many people were willing to take their time to help us. I know we will use as much of the information as possible. I think when we get up there, we are going to toss a coin and head in that direction. Now I wish I had more than a week to spend.

Thank again,


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Jo Ann/Texas

Without repeating some of the excellent suggestions that were mentioned earlier I do have a suggestion to an excellent inn to spend a memorable night on Cape Cod. This would be the Chatham Bars Inn ib Chatham, MA. Yes it is expensive, but now you can get an off season rate that is acceptable. A beautiful New England inn where you will be pampered in all aspects. Walk to Chatham Light. Drive to Nauset Light (my favorite)and the Three Sisters, Highland, Race Point, etc. A great place to spend a day, or preferably 2 days, on the Cape and see some awesome lights. From here you can head North (go Down East) and into New England lighthouse heaven!!!
Len Ariagno

I'll second the Chatham Bars Inn. We 'discovered' it after the 1998 Reunion.

Spent 3 nights there and it was thoroughly enjoyable.

They quoted me a price at the desk and I asked if they had anything less expensive. Sure, and we got a nice unit in one of their houses on the water. Never hurts to ask and it was a substantial savings.

My husband and I went to New England and Cape Cod last August on our honeymoon. We stayed in Chatham for 2 nights. We saw several lighthouses. The Chatham one of course. We saw Nauset Beach, Cape Cod since we drove up to Provincetown. We also drove north to Maine and saw Cape Neddick("Nuble") which we found by accident. It is really neat. I would reccomend trying to see those.
Beth

We are home from a wonderful trip to Rhode Island and Boston area and just purchased tickects to go back in June. Thanks again for all your help. I will post the trip soon. It even snowed while we were in Boston. What a treat!