The Love of the Lighthouse
Later, when I started dating someone I used to point the lighthouse out to him and we used to marvel at it. I remember one time I called just to see what the rental would be. Astronomical, of course. Writer Henry David Thoreau once said the lighthouse was “the true hotel.”
Another lighthouse not far from the one I mentioned above is the Amelia Island Replica at 584 Fletcher Avenue and it’s located a few miles from the original lighthouse on Fernandina Beach. The Replica was built as a personal use beach house. It’s three bedroom, two and a half baths, and the guest rooms have a Queen Brass bed and Captain’s bunk beds. The living room has a double sleep sofa. Amenities include oceanfront view, color cable t.v. and VCR, central heat and air, washer and dryer, dishwasher, linens and towels and departure cleaning. No smoking is allowed.
If colder weather is your thing, check out the Isle au Haut Lighthouse, The Keeper’s House in Maine. It’s accessible only my mail boat and is perched on the Maine coast of the Atlantic Ocean, secluded. You can enjoy a gourmet seafood dinner under the light of oil chandeliers. The lighthouse is owned by Jeff and Judy Burke and there is no electricity, phones, internet, email, or fax.
The Wings Neck Lighthouse, after being restored in Massachusetts, was made available for vacation renting. It is located in the town of Pocasset, city of Bourne, one hour from Boston. It’s close to the Cape Cod Canal and has unique shops where you can see boating traffic pass by daily. Rental rates are in the thousands per week. You can get a discount for multiple weeks. The lighthouse tower is 32 feet but the light is not operational. Built in 1889 the wooden lighthouse is one and half stories.
The Juniper Island Lighthouse in Vermont was the first lighthouse built on Lake Champlain. Storms were not uncommon on that lake in those days. From the top of the lighthouse you can see the foundation of the keeper’s house and the old oil house.
Rich in waterways, New York also boasts of many lighthouses. Nancy Russell, who lives near a lighthouse and incorporated it in a book she wrote, said she had never seen one until she moved out of state. “Now I can actually see a tiny light from my front window,” she said. “And the lighthouse in the book is just across the harbor from my house.”
Photographer Chris Nicholson takes lots of pictures of lighthouses among other things though he says that topic is well-covered. “But whenever I travel for photography I always wind up finding the lighthouses and shooting them,” he said. “Even when I was in Australia for two months in 2001 any time I saw a lighthouse on the map my mind would instantly coordinate my schedule so I could be at the site in good light.”
