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The Lighthouse Challenge of New Jersey was held Saturday and Sunday, October 19-20, 2013. The primary goal of the Challenge is to promote awareness of New Jersey’s lighthouses specifically and lighthouses in general. The goal for participants was to visit eleven lighthouses, two lifesaving stations and two museums with Fresnel Lenses on display, all in two days. This also provided the opportunity to climb lighthouses that otherwise are only open on a limited basis, or not at all, such as the rare chance to climb the south tower at Navesink Twin Lights in Highlands, New Jersey.
Lighthouse challenge participants paid two dollars for a special Lighthouses of New Jersey Passport. At each stop along the way, volunteers checked them in and, for a donation, placed lighthouse stickers in the passports. This event generated donations for the individual lighthouses and sales in their gift shops. This much needed income enables them to continue their individual preservation efforts throughout the year.
Families with children and teens, groups of friends, couples, and sisters hit the road along the New Jersey shore. We, Jeannette O’Neal of Oroville, California and Julie Lake of Franklin, Pennsylvania, were among the sisters who participated with the many people who set out to visit the lighthouses, lifesaving stations, and museums while completing their Challenge Passports and collecting lighthouse stamps in their United States Lighthouse Society Official Passports (http://www.uslhs.org/passports.php).
The best part of the New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge was being able to climb the lighthouses, including our very first skeletal towers: Tinicum and Finns Point lighthouses. Another first for us was a night climb at Absecon Lighthouse. Other night climbs were also scheduled at Cape May, Tinicum, and Tuckerton lighthouses. We also met some very wonderful people along the way.
To show how rewarding and fun the 2013 Challenge was, following are a selection of images of the event in pictures. And yes, we completed the challenge!
This year’s New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge will be held on October 18-19, 2014. For more information, you can visit their web site at www.LighthouseChallengeNJ.org. You might consider attending this year’s New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge and have tons of fun on this educational journey, just like we did.
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