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Beacons Beckon In Maryland

By JOHN DEINER, The Washington Post

Published: November 4, 2007

Seventeen years living in Maryland, and I'd never seen Point Lookout. I love the Eastern Shore, but the communities along the Upper Chesapeake? New to me.

And during umpteen visits to Baltimore's Inner Harbor, I've always stopped to watch those crazy dragon-bowed paddleboats, but I'd never once noticed that ship with the beacon on it 100 yards away.

Take part in the Maryland Lighthouse Challenge and you can't avoid them. Over a 36-hour period in September, I put more than 500 miles on my Honda, toured nine lighthouses and one lightship, ate three pounds of junk food and discovered parts of my home state I never knew existed.

Maryland is home to about two dozen lighthouses, all clinging to the edges of the Chesapeake and its tributaries. Five years ago, the Chesapeake chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society launched the Challenge, which incorporates the 10 sites I visited. According to event chairwoman Karen Rosage, it's the only time all are open to the public simultaneously, so it's a great way to get your Fresnel lens fix. (Next year's will be Sept. 20-21.)

The basic idea: Participants download a map or grab a Challenge brochure and drive to each lighthouse. That's drive, not race. No registration is required; just show up and start ogling. Climb the innards if it's allowed, admire the view and hit the gift shop, then receive a commemorative doodad. This year's trinket was a magnet bearing the image of each lighthouse; if you completed the circuit, you got an additional magnet exclaiming, "I've seen the lights!" The first year, 507 enthusiasts checked in at all the landmarks; this year, 459 accomplished the feat.

So who does this, anyhow?

"Some people are just fascinated by the architectural design; others just see them from a photo standpoint," said Rosage, noting that this year's participants came from 25 states. "Some like the history, that they saved lives, and others are fascinated by the lighthouse keepers themselves."

And some, like me, just like the idea of a challenge. It wasn't quite a double-dog dare, but zipping around collecting the souvenir magnets took a lot more time than expected.

We began the adventure at the Hooper Strait Lighthouse in St. Michaels before looping northward to beacons at Elk Neck State Park and Havre de Grace, wearily ending the day at a Baltimore pub after touring the lightship Chesapeake moments before it closed. Then, on Day 2, we foolishly slept in before driving south to Fort Washington National Park, whose lighthouse is open only for the Challenge. After a long haul to the towers at Piney Point and Point Lookout, we nabbed our final magnets with minutes to spare at Solomons Island, touring the lovely Drum Point light and nearby Cove Point.

But now I need to do it again. The Challenge was great fun, for sure, but I missed too much.

I need to go back and tour that maritime museum in Havre de Grace, check out the cute towns we sped through such as Chesapeake City and Elkton, spend a night (or two, or three) in St. Mary's County and explore places without a view of the bay. And I want to see the lighthouses again, this time framed by wintry skies and leafless trees. I have a feeling I'll be wheeling through Maryland again during next September's Challenge.

SEE THE LIGHTS

MARYLAND LIGHTHOUSES: Go to www.cheslights.org for details on the state's beacons. If you want to replicate this year's Lighthouse Challenge (note that some may be closed for the season and you won't get those nifty magnets), go to www.cheslights.org/challenge .htm, print out the brochure and follow the map. The 2008 Lighthouse Challenge is Sept. 20-21.

INFORMATION: Maryland Office of Tourism, 1-866-639-3526, www.mdisfun.org; U.S. Lighthouse Society, www.uslhs.org

FLORIDA LIGHTHOUSE ASSOCIATION: www.floridalighthouses.org

CHESAPEAKE CHALLENGE

The Maryland lighthouses and lightship writer John Deiner visited:

FORT WASHINGTON NATIONAL PARK: The Fort Washington Lighthouse, built in 1882.

ELK NECK STATE PARK: The Turkey Point Lighthouse, built in 1833.

COVE POINT: The Cove Point Lighthouse, built in 1828.

BALTIMORE: The lightship Chesapeake in the Inner Harbor, launched in 1930.

BALTIMORE: The Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse in the Inner Harbor, built in 1855.

POINT LOOKOUT: The Point Lookout Lighthouse, built in 1830.

SOLOMONS ISLAND: The Drum Point Lighthouse, built in 1883.

PINEY POINT: The Piney Point Lighthouse, built in 1836.