lighthouses

Can anyone help me with an itinerary flying into and renting a car from Nova Scotia, driving the coastline from Maine to maybe North Carolina to see the lighthouses. i live in nashville, Tennessee. How many days do you think it will take? I know it will depend on how long I stay at a place but I was hoping someone out there had done this before and could give me an idea, maybe about mileage.

Also, if I rent a car, will they let me take it across to the US side? How do I go about finding out the regulations?

Any help would be appreciated.

lighthouses

Wow. What a trip that would be. You%26#39;d have to take a ferry from Nova Scotia to Maine, unless you wanted to drive the west shore of the Bay of Fundy, which would be New Brunswick, not Nova Scotia.

After Maine, you%26#39;d have to drive through all the major cities of the East Coast: Boston, New York City, Washington D. C. What a chore that would be.

I%26#39;ve driven from Bar Harbor, Maine to Morehead City, North Carolina. Once. Without stopping to see lighthouses. I%26#39;d never do it again.

But, hey, go for it.

lighthouses

This is no easy task and would take considerable time if you wish to see a lot of lighthouses. Keep in mind, lighthouses are generally not just off the exits of the Interstate. There is a lot of driving on two lane roads to get to the lighthouse.

I can%26#39;t speak to Nova Scotia but over a number of trips over the past 10 years, we have visited many Maine lighthouses. If you ferry from Nova Scotia to say Bar Harbor, you will probably want to head back up the coast (referred to as heading Down East) to Campobello Island (New Brunswick) so you can see East Quoddy light. At low tide, you can climb down a ladder, walk across the ocean floor (Bay of Fundy with the widest high tide/low tide swings in North America), climb a ladder on the island and see the lighthouse up close and personal. Then you can hit Mullholland Light as you cross back over into the US. Then you can visit West Quoddy in Lubec, ME before heading down to Bar Harbor (Mount Desert Island) to see Bass Harbor Light. You will be lucky if you can do all that in one day. SO you see what I mean about time.

There are many beautiful lighthouses in Maine. While in Bar Harbor, I would recommend the Lighthouse boat trip from Bar Harbor Whale Watch. It will take you within good photography distance to 6 lights all out on islands.

I wouldn%26#39;t pass on anything I mentioned up to this point. But we have already spent the better part of two days and haven%26#39;t gotten any farther south than Bar Harbor.

I will probably forget some but as you work down the coast of Maine, you would want to hit Rockland Breakwater, Pemaquid Point (the only lighthouse in Maine that we have been allowed to climb), Marshall Point, I would take a boat trip to Monhegan Island to see that light, Portland Head is beautiful, Cape Elizabeth, Cape Neddick (fabulous) to name just a few.

Skip to New Jersey.

The New Jersey lights are also fun to visit and you can climb most of them (particularly if you hit them on a weekend). Sandy Hook is open on Sundays. Twin Lights (in Highlands) is a really neat fort-like lighthouse with two towers. This light is atop a high hill overlooking Sandy Hook. Tiny Sea Girt Light is one of my favorites. Then move down to Barnegat Light and Absecon (in Atlantic City). From Atlantic City you can go down the Garden State Parkway to Wildwood and Hereford Inlet Light before ending your New Jersey adventure at Cape May. New Jersey will take you two days. You can then take the Cape May-Lewes ferry over to Delaware and continue on.

I will let others talk to Mass Lights, Connecticut and Long Island.

A trip like you are thinking about could easily take you a couple of weeks.

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