A VIEW FROM THE TOP
BARNEGAT LIGHTHOUSE
LONGBEACH ISLAND, NJ
Having grown up in New Jersey, I should have been familiar with Long Beach Island but was more grounded with the Sandy Hook south to Seaside Heights area of the Jersey Beach. We lived in Westfield, NJ, a bedroom community to New York City where everybody commuted. We could be at the Jersey shore in a couple of hours during the week but about four on weekends due to traffic. When the parents went with us we went further south to areas like Long Beach Island, Avon, and Cape May which were more "respectful" places for adults way back then. I guess they were places where our parents just didn't have to deal with hoards of us out of control kids. At any rate, in high school I had no appreciation of lighthouses anyway.
Yesterday's blog gave thought to some of the images I have made from the climbs to and the tops of some of these old mariner's marks. This one at Barnegat Inlet is 165 feet above sea level and 215 steps to the top. The view along the way of the stairs is of an archetural delight not only of the stairs but of the walls, reminding yourself that these things were built in the 1800's well before the tools we use today. Some feat!
The light tower is interesting in that the light must be constructed to carry up to 19 miles on a clear night.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnegat_Lighthouse
At the top the view is stupendous. The inlet of course and the beach. The atlantic and a good bit of the Intercoastal Waterway. Long Beach Island is to the south and Island Beach State and National Park area to the North. Shifting sand with heavy tides and currents make the inlet tricky. And prior to GPS the nearest coastal lighthouses were Absecon Lighthouse to the south and Sea Girt to the North. Of course, most of the northern end of Long Beach Island can be seen as well. Just remember back in the day when these things were lit with oil of some kind, the keepers had to carry that oil to the top. I just cannot imagine the strength involved in doing that kind of work, particularly after I am about half way up carrying only a camera.
BARNEGAT LIGHTHOUSE
LONGBEACH ISLAND, NJ
Having grown up in New Jersey, I should have been familiar with Long Beach Island but was more grounded with the Sandy Hook south to Seaside Heights area of the Jersey Beach. We lived in Westfield, NJ, a bedroom community to New York City where everybody commuted. We could be at the Jersey shore in a couple of hours during the week but about four on weekends due to traffic. When the parents went with us we went further south to areas like Long Beach Island, Avon, and Cape May which were more "respectful" places for adults way back then. I guess they were places where our parents just didn't have to deal with hoards of us out of control kids. At any rate, in high school I had no appreciation of lighthouses anyway.
Yesterday's blog gave thought to some of the images I have made from the climbs to and the tops of some of these old mariner's marks. This one at Barnegat Inlet is 165 feet above sea level and 215 steps to the top. The view along the way of the stairs is of an archetural delight not only of the stairs but of the walls, reminding yourself that these things were built in the 1800's well before the tools we use today. Some feat!
The light tower is interesting in that the light must be constructed to carry up to 19 miles on a clear night.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnegat_Lighthouse
At the top the view is stupendous. The inlet of course and the beach. The atlantic and a good bit of the Intercoastal Waterway. Long Beach Island is to the south and Island Beach State and National Park area to the North. Shifting sand with heavy tides and currents make the inlet tricky. And prior to GPS the nearest coastal lighthouses were Absecon Lighthouse to the south and Sea Girt to the North. Of course, most of the northern end of Long Beach Island can be seen as well. Just remember back in the day when these things were lit with oil of some kind, the keepers had to carry that oil to the top. I just cannot imagine the strength involved in doing that kind of work, particularly after I am about half way up carrying only a camera.
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