More than 1,100 people take Lighthouse Challenge of New Jersey
OCEAN CITY – More than 1,100 people recently participated in the annual Lighthouse Challenge of New Jersey Oct. 17-18. Participants were challenged to visit 11 lighthouse sites, one museum and four Life Saving Stations during the event.
This year’s challenge celebrated the 250th anniversary of the United States — “Lighting the Way Through History” – and honored the Sandy Hook Lighthouse, the only lighthouse standing during the American Revolution.
The challenge route covers the Atlantic Coast from Sandy Hook to Cape May, and the Delaware Bay and River Coast from Cape May to Paulsboro. Moving from north to south along the Atlantic Coast, sites include: Spermaceti Cove Life Saving Station, Sandy Hook Light, Navesink Twin Lights, Sea Girt Light, Squan Beach Life Saving Station, Barnegat Light, Barnegat Light Museum, Tucker’s Island Light, Absecon Light, U.S. Life Saving Station 30 Museum, Tatham Life Saving Station, and Cape May Light. Proceeding north on the bayside are: East Point Light & Delaware Bay Lights, Finns Point Light and Tinicum Light.
Participants collect customized stickers at each site, which they place in a souvenir book. This year’s souvenir book contained stories of the American Revolution that took place on site or near present day lighthouses, life saving stations or museums.
The Ocean City Sentinel talked with some of the challenge participants who stopped at the U.S. Life Saving Station 30 Museum, located at Fourth Street and Atlantic Avenue in Ocean City.
A quick history of the station: Built in 1885, the station housed seven surfmen and a keeper on 24/7 watch for shipwrecks off New Jersey’s coast. The station was operated by the U.S. Life Saving Service from 1885 to 1915 and by its successor, the U.S. Coast Guard, until 1936. It shut down but was reopened during World War II. Mounted patrols operated out of the station, scouring local beaches for signs of the enemy. After the war, the station became a private residence. In 2009, the city bought the site and worked with a nonprofit group to restore it to its 1905 appearance.
Visitors can learn about the heroic acts of the surfmen who saved passengers, crews, and cargo from shipwrecks off the island’s coast during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
While most challenge visitors were New Jersey or Pennsylvania residents, others came from locations as far away as Singapore. (OK. Those from foreign countries were in New Jersey for purposes other than the challenge, but they made it a point to participate in the event while here).
Here’s what challenge visitors had to say:
“I was transported back in time,” said Meg Huber of Ocean Beach. “I’m in awe at the attention to detail in the keeper’s office — from the wreck report to the calendar with 1901 on it. When you step inside there, you step back in time.”
While in the station boat room, Sarah Guide, of Washington Township, tried on the life jacket the surfmen wore — a canvas vest lined with cork. “A couple of years ago, my grandfather and I climbed the Absecon Lighthouse,” Guide said. “I got hooked on lighthouses then and there.”
In the boat room, visitors examined a 26-foot pulling surfboat, an exact replica of the boat the surfmen rowed to shipwrecks through turbulent seas. They explored rescue apparatus, such as a breeches buoy — a pair of pants sown into a life ring. Shipwreck survivors would climb inside the buoy and be zip-lined from their ship to the shore. They also examined the 1848 life car on display. Survivors would lie inside the lifecar, an enclosed metal vessel, and be zip-lined to the shore.
Visitors who ventured upstairs viewed the surfmen’s dormitory-style sleeping quarters, the keeper’s private quarters and the ladder leading to the watch tower.
Katie Workman of Brick made it a point to go upstairs to see Charlie, a surfman mannequin known for his Walrus mustache. “He’s my boyfriend,” Workman said as she snapped a selfie with Charlie.
U.S. Life Saving Station 30 was the second stop for Amanda Fairfax, a Galloway resident and first-time challenge participant who started the route at the Absecon lighthouse. “I grew up in Maine where there are a lot of lighthouses. I’ve always been fascinated by them,” she said.
To Climb or Not to Climb
Rachel Corma and Joe Mohnacs, Collingswood residents, planned to go to all of the sites. “I love lighthouses,” Corma said. “Most are on beaches or in parks. I like the nature (around them) and learning about the keepers.”
“I’m a committed boyfriend,” Mohnacs said. “I’m doing this even though I have a fear of heights and tight spaces. I wait at the bottom of the lighthouses.” In contrast, Corma said, “I climb them all.”
Adam Klenk, his wife Jenna, and Adam’s dad, Darryl, of York, Pa., have been participating in the challenge for 10 years. Adam and Jenna’s daughters, Reagan, 7, and Aubrey, 4, now join in the fun. “I like going to the top of all the lighthouses. I try to find the ocean,” Reagan said.
The Allure of Night Lights
Each year some of the lighthouses offer night climbs. This year, Megan Musz and her fiancé, Nick Hayduk, Spring Lake Heights residents, participated in the night climb at the Tinicum Lighthouse. “We climbed the lighthouse at sunset. It was pretty. The sky was a deep orange. You could see the Delaware River, planes taking off and landing at the Philadelphia airport, and factories silhouetted against the skyline,” said Musz, a 17-year challenge veteran.
Musz and Hayduk consider the challenge a learning experience. “I like learning about New Jersey history, and I love visiting the shore. The challenge offers the opportunity to do both,” Hayduk said.
Chris Kaelble, of Egg Harbor Township, who has done the challenge for five years, noted, “I enjoy learning about history and seeing the changes in the towns along the route.” Her daughter, Hope Morris, also of Egg Harbor Township, said she simply enjoys going along for the ride.
“The challenge brings the maritime history of New Jersey to life. It’s a piece of history that would be lost. If it wasn’t captured, no one would know about it,” said John Loeper, keeper of the U.S. Life Saving Station 30 Museum.
– By ALICE URBANSKI/For the Sentinel
