Whitlocks Mill Lighthouse – Calais, Maine

Whitlocks Mill Lighthouse in Calais is on private property but can be viewed from the rest area on US Route 1 south of the Calais city center. The port of Calais used to be surrounded by heavy forests making navigation up the Saint Croix river difficult. Lighthouses were erected on the Canadian side of the river in 1857 but this light on the American side was only established in 1909. Prior to this a series of lanterns were hung in nearby trees. The St. Croix Historical Society applied for and was awarded ownership of Whitlocks Mill Lighthouse in 1997, as part of the Maine Lights Program. The Coast Guard still maintains the tower’s flashing green light. The three-bedroom, 2,428-square-foot keeper’s house and other outbuildings are privately owned and closed to the public. The dwelling sold in 2004, with an asking price of $350,000.

View of the Saint Croix River looking towards Canada

Odiorne Point State Park – Rye, New Hampshire

Odiorne Point State Park is a park in the town of Rye, New Hampshire. It sits along the 18-mile seacoast of the state, and has 135 acres of shoreline accompanied by beaches and some rocky areas. For such a small area the park has much to offer with bike paths, The Seacoast Science Center (a small aquarium), historic sites and views of a lighthouse.

Bike trails wind their way through the park

New Hampshire’s first settlement was located within the park boundaries

First Settler’s Monument

The Seacoast Science Center has a small aquarium

The Whaleback Lighthouse can be seen from the shore

The Sunken Forest is nearby and can sometimes be seen on very low tides

The park is the site of Fort Dearborn

Mulholland Point Lighthouse – Roosevelt Campobello International Park (Campobello Island, New Brunswick)

Mulholland Point Lighthouse was built in 1888 on the west side of Campobello Island, New Brunswick in the town of Welshpool to guide small coasters and freighters traveling into Cobscook and Passamaquoddy Bays through the Lubec Narrows. This route offered more shelter during foul weather than did the alternate route around the eastern side of Campobello Island. The light was donated to the Roosevelt Campobello International Park in 1984.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

East Quoddy Head Lighthouse (aka Head Harbor Lighthouse) – Campobello Island, New Brunswick

The East Quoddy Head or Head Harbor Lighthouse on Campobello Island in New Brunswick may very well be my favorite lighthouse on the entire east coast. My mother grew up across the Passamaquoddy Bay in Eastport, Maine and we visited this light station many times on family vacations. The unique part of this lighthouse is that it is located on an island that can only be accessed at low tide. The enormous tides of the Bay of Fundy completely inundate the surrounding islands making it impossible to return to the shore until the next low tide if you get your timing wrong. You make your way down staircases and ladders that stretch between several small islands to reach the last island where the lighthouse sits. This always made it quite the adventure as a young child. The adults in the group will marvel at the scenery and location.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Whales are very prevalent in the Bay of Fundy, one day we were at the lighthouse during whale season and we saw many whales surfacing out in the bay. My nephew Roger no more than 10-12 years old at the time kept missing the whale sightings so he climbed out onto the furthest point and complained that there were no whales to see. Seconds after he shouted this a large whale rolled on its side and extended its flipper just like in the stock photo below, not more than twenty feet from where he was standing. It was if the whale was waving at Roger.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Be sure to bring your binoculars and camera with you.

Roosevelt Campobello International Park – New Brunswick, Canada

Roosevelt Campobello International Park preserves the house and surrounding landscape of the summer retreat of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt and their family. It is located on the southern tip of Campobello Island in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, and is connected to the mainland by the Roosevelt Memorial Bridge, at Lubec, Maine in the United States. Here in August 1921, 39-year-old Roosevelt, who would go on to become the 32nd President of the United States, was stricken by a severe paralytic illness, believed to be polio at the time, leaving him permanently paralyzed from the waist down. FDR was no longer able to stay at the “beloved island”, but he sailed there in 1933 and visited briefly in 1936 and 1939. Eleanor Roosevelt loved the cool summer weather and visited many times with her children and friends. Armand Hammer acquired the cottage in 1952. After Eleanor’s death in 1962, Armand Hammer deeded the property to the governments of the U.S. and Canada. In 1964, they created the 2,800-acre International Park. The cottage, built in the Shingle Style and completed in 1897, was designed by Willard T. Sears.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Adjacent to the Roosevelt cottage there is a natural area with hiking trails and viewpoints overlooking the bay.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

The Mulholland Point Lighthouse is owned and administered by the park.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos