Major Erika Teichel, U.S. Marine Corps
My husband and I have lived on both coasts and have visited about 65 lighthouses in the United States and a few internationally. In one cross-country move, we visited many of the Great Lakes lighthouses. Our favorite is Punta Gorda Lighthouse in California. Four-wheel drive is required to get to the starting point and then it is about a five-mile roundtrip hike to the lighthouse.
Lieutenant Commander Rob Schmidt, U.S. Navy (Retired)
I have visited five or so lighthouses. The one on Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, is my favorite. It is close to where the pirate Blackbeard had his last stand against the Royal Navy, and it has its own cat.
Brian Wallin, Docent, Naval War College Museum
I narrate lighthouse cruises on Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay. Of the 17 still operating lights in Rhode Island waters, my favorite is Beavertail. With its colorful history, it is the country’s third-oldest light.
Captain David L. Teska, U.S. Coast Guard Reserve (Retired)
I have visited several lighthouses, but my favorite is Point No Point in Washington State. My first assignment was to Group Seattle in 1990 and Point No Point was one of five the unit ran in Puget Sound. It had a duplex house with the lighthouse keeper living in one side and the other used as a recreational rental that I managed. I have fond memories of its bright white buildings, the light on at night, and the occasional foghorn.
Captain Bruce Ross, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired)
While serving as commander of Group Milwaukee in the early 2000s, I had oversight responsibility for the maintenance and operation of the lighthouses along the western Lake Michigan shoreline. My girlfriend and I visited several lighthouses, but she had never seen my favorite lighthouse, Wind Point Light in Racine County. On her birthday, I surprised her with a visit that included finding an engagement ring secreted away in the lighthouse tower.
Howard Griffore. U.S. Coast Guard Veteran
Eastern Point Lighthouse on the southern end of Cape Anne, Gloucester, Massachusetts. After being married to my sweet wife for six months, I was transferred to Group Gloucester. I guess the group commander took a liking to us because our new duty station was assistant keeper at Eastern Point Lighthouse. I was a boatswain mate striker at the time. Eastern Point was our honeymoon suite. We lived at the lighthouse for three and a half years.
Mike and Becky Zingarelli, U.S. Navy Veterans
Cape Hatteras and Cape Canaveral lighthouses both have Navy connections. Naval Facility Cape Hatteras tracked Soviet submarines during the Cold War and was right next to the lighthouse. A naval ordnance test unit is just a few miles from the Cape Canaveral lighthouse, both on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. We met while both stationed at Naval Facility Cape Hatteras. Becky is now the museum director at the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse.
Dillon Reed, U.S. Navy Veteran, Golden Life Member
I have visited 15 lighthouses on the Atlantic, Gulf, Pacific, and Great Lakes coasts. My favorite is St. Augustine. A majestic, traditional light on the northern Florida coast that is ranked fifth in height on the U.S. mainland. The grounds, keeper’s quarters, and light tower are kept in prime shape by the local preservation society.
Lieutenant (junior grade) Connor Keating, U.S. Navy
Thomas Point Lighthouse is a gorgeous, historic landmark just offshore from Annapolis. Boat tours are pricy and limited (because of preservation efforts) to just a few weekends during the summer, but the juice is worth the squeeze. Midshipmen, impress your date with a meal and an entertaining excursion.
Brian J. Dickerson, U.S. Navy Veteran
I have visited 13 lighthouses on the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts. My favorite is Twin Lights in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. As the name indicates, Twin Lights features two lighthouse towers. Twin Lights is set on a hill overlooking Sandy Hook, Sandy Hook Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean. On a clear day from Twin Lights, you can see all the way to New York City and Long Island.
Lieutenant Commander Brian Hayes, U.S. Navy reserve (Retired)
My favorite lighthouse is Point Reyes, now part of a national park service site just north of San Francisco. It takes a meandering drive and long staircase descent needed to get there, but the views of the Pacific and surrounding landscape are stunning.
Bill Strupczewski
We have visited a half dozen East Coast lighthouses, including a hometown favorite. Liston Rear Range Lighthouse is Delaware’s tallest lighthouse and also the one farthest from the water, standing three miles inland from the riverside location of its companion front-range light.
Allen Scott Beach, U.S. Coast Guard Veteran
In 1977, I was a Coast Guard HH-3F flight crewman based out of Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Florida. One day we landed in Dry Tortugas during a routine drug patrol, and I had my photo taken next to the Light Station Dry Tortugas sign. Fun times.
Chief Petty Officer Phillip Null, U.S. Coast Guard
A lesson in the value of lighthouses comes along Maine’s rocky coast where hundreds of islands and huge tidal ranges demand a network built so close together that from one you can see others to both your east and west. Boat station areas of operation here are defined by lights and I am responsible for the waters between Little River and Petit Manan Lights, my current favorites as they bring my crews home at night.
William H. Emilius, U.S. Navy Veteran, Life Member
I have visited no less than a dozen lighthouses around the country and have climbed all that had allowed it, several more than once. Barnegat and Cape May are among my favorites, but the best is the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. When not crowded, all offer a great open-air solitude and peacefulness.
