Long Island Sound

Nancy and I were going to go to Ireland this year on our Sister Trip, but my son is very ill and I don't want to go that far away. So, we are going to Long Island Sound in May and continuing through Conneticut and Rhode Island, not sure how far we will get.
Questions:
1. What lighthouses are not to be missed, even if it is hard to get to? We saw Fire Island and Montauk, but plan to go back to Fire Island since it was closed last October.
2. What places other than lighthouses should we see?
3. Good restaurants?
4. Maps, just road maps for each state? I have a good GPS, but I have learned to double check with a map. I have been looking for a map of the Long Island Sound area with no luck.
All suggestions and tips are welcome.

First of all I am very sorry that your son is ill, here are a couple of links to start of with..

Map of Long Island

or the guide that the Scroope's have put together

Long Island Guide

The next thing I would do is get in touch with Bob Scroope..

bob@scroope.net

Laura & Nancy,
Here's the brochure from last years LI Lighthouse Challenge which will give you the most recent directions to several LI LHs.
Brochure
Use the site above for all LILighthouse. You can see many LI Sound LHs by using the ferries, and EastEnd Lighthouse has done a LI Cruise the begiining of June for many years http://eastendlighthouses.org/fund.htm


Email me with any specific questions after using the above resources. You picked a great place to see a lot of lhs in alittle time,

Bob

What a great site the Scroopes have - just full of information for a lighthouse traveler!

Laura,
Our thoughts and prayers will be with you and your son. Hope all goes well.
One of Karen's and my favorite places to visit in Connecticut is the village of Mystic. Love Old Mystic Seaport, with its' 19th century buildings, the whaleship Charles W. Morgan and other tall ships, and of course, Mystic Seaport Lighthouse!
http://www.mysticseaport.org/
There is also a very good aquarium
http://www.mysticaquarium.org/
as well as the Olde Mistick Village,
http://www.oldmysticvillage.com/
a really nice shopping area that you can walk through where all of the shops are contained in little cottages. Mystic also has a nice downtown/waterfront district that you can stroll through and do some shopping. And oh, yeah, there's always Mystic Pizza!
http://www.mysticpizza.com/restaurants.aspx
Doesn't look like the one in the movie, but there are all kinds of photos and other stuff from the movie. Food is also real good! If you like steaks, the Steak Loft Restaurant is outstanding (if you can even get near the place). We always stay at The Hyatt Place. It's right off I-95 and you can walk to the Olde Mistick Village Shops and the aquarium on a nice day. Great rooms, and we can usually get a great price at Priceline or one of the other similar sites.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-...onnecticut.html
They also have shuttles that take you to the Foxwoods Casino. Even if you don't gamble, Foxwoods is a great place to visit.
http://www.foxwoods.com/
Mystic is also just down the road from Route 1 which is pretty much the seacoast route that follows the entire state.

http://www.sunbeamfleet.com/lighthouse_cruises.html This is a great lighthouse cruise out of Northern CT. if you can work it into the right weekend.
http://www.soundnavigation.com/ This is also in Southern CT. Worth checking into. You can also get to Shefeild Island.
Great Captains light also now allows anyone to use the ferry and go see this light. You will have to wait till they post for 2010.
If you have time Block Island for the day is fun. And most of the lights are easy to get to. Dont miss Castle Hill in RI. There is also a boat ride that does most of the lights http://www.rhodeislandbaycruises.com/Lighthouses.htm
Lots of options and they are all great.

Thanks for all the great tips, that is exactly what I was looking for. Bob, I may have more questions after further research.

Part of the fun of our sister trips is the planning. This information will give us many choices. Thank You

No problem Laura & Nancy. I've have done the many add ons your list to CT, RI, Cape Cod, MA, etc. So use me as a resource. A few of them are on my website or in LH Travel Center if you search "show all topics".

Our trip starts next Friday morning. Sooo many lighthouses! Bob, your site has been a big help. I especially liked your story about visiting Cedar Island and can't wait to walk the beach, collecting shells, on the way to see the lighthouse. One lighthouse that I would really like to see is Faulkner's Island. Its 4 miles off Guilford Harbor. Anyone have suggestions, or a boat captain in that area? How well can we see it from shore? Sound Navigation isn't doing trips anymore, they used to have trips to see all the Conn. lights. Usually we take a folder of information with us, this time it looks like I am taking a notebook. I have a plan for every light except Faulkner's. Very excited, very nervous about traffic. Plan is to stay away from Long Island on weekends. Friday we will see some NYC area lighthouses, like Jeffrey's Hook and then we have a narrated boat trip to see 16 Rhode Island lighthouses, plus former sites on Saturday. We postponed our trip specifically to take this boat trip. I think Block Island on Sunday, mainly because the LHs are only open on the weekends, and the rest we make up as we go along. We have never gone lighthousing in an area so full of lighthouses as this. I am on overload just thinking about it.

Have fun Laura! I'd probably try to hook up with you but I going to be with my Granddaughter upstate next week.

Grandkids trump lighthouses any day! We will be there the 11th through the 19th, heading home the 20th. Send me an email if anything changes and you have an opportunity. We would buy the coffee or the lunch! Have you seen Faulkner's Island? I seem to get stuck on the unique ones.

Laura I would love to do Faulkner's it's the only Connecticut light I have not seen. Please let me know if you get any info on tours to the island.
Hilari

There is usually an open house in September. I didn't find any info about this September, but this is the organization that is taking care of Faulkner's.
Faulkner\'s Light Brigade
If you got to go on one of their trips, that would be fantastic. I know we can't get onto the island, I just want to see it as well as I can.
There is a trip to Execution Rocks on June 12th, that we will have to miss because of out boat trip. Maybe someone else can go.

You're missing an annual eastendlighthouse.org trip today to 10 east end LI, Ct lighthouse.

Yes, that figures. I got to Heceta and the light is out. But I am a Plan B kind of woman. Just last night I found this...
New London Ledge Tour - INSIDE!
I am calling first thing Monday. Anyone here been inside New London Ledge?
Bob, are you going to the East End tour?

No Laura, I helped run it for quite a few years. Today was a great day for it.
Anyone who wants to see LI Lighthouses should plan around this cruise like Dave did a few years ago with his trip.
They were not so lucky with the weather but had an adventure.

No tours inside New London Ledge until at least July due to storm damage.

Dang! I did a volunteering day with NELL out there in May. It's a really cool light...and there's been a lot of work done. But I believe there's been issues with the stairs from sea level, and the sea-level dock, so maybe that's it?

It is an AWESOME light.

Nancy has found a boat captain out of Groton who will take us out. Not sure how long, and I am hoping he can go as far as Faulkner's. We are sure to get close to New London Ledge though. I would love to see some pictures from inside the Ledge light Greg, if you have some.

Awesome trip so far! 35 lighthouses to date, plus former sites! On our way to Long Island now - Cross Sound Ferry. Details later...

Sounds like a gre.at start! Will look forward to your reports and pictures

Laura
Email me your game plan and cell phone, and I'll try to hook up with you.
Bob

I received several historic pictures and a Power Point from the coastie who escorted us at Eaton's Neck. Anyone who would like a copy send me a note and your email.

Nice find Laura!