Lighthouse	Location	Operational?	Public Access to Grounds?	Photography Notes
Black Rock Harbor (Fayerweather Island) Light	Bridgeport	No	Yes
Bridgeport Breakwater (Tongue Point) Light	Bridgeport	Yes	Yes	May be photographed from the Port Jefferson Ferry.
Faulkners Island Light	Guilford	Yes	No
Five Mile Point (Old New Haven) Light	New Haven	No	Yes	Decent lighthouse. Not too much foreground interest except at low tide, when you can shoot with shore rocks in foreground. Light hits structure all day.
Great Captain Island Light	Greenwich	No	No
Greens Ledge Light	Rowayton (Norwalk)	Yes	No	May be photographed from a boat. Light angles are fine any time of day.
Lynde Point (Saybrook) Light	Old Saybrook	Yes	No
Morgan Point Light	Noank	No	No
New London Harbor Light	New London	Yes	No
New London Ledge Light	New London	Yes	No	May be photographed by boat. Also, you can shoot this light with a long lens from shore, but you won't get a very inspired angle.
Peck Ledge Light	Norwalk	Yes	No	May be photographed from a boat.
Penfield Reef Light	Fairfield	Yes	No
Saybrook Breakwater Light	Old Saybrook	Yes	No	May be photographed from a boat.
Sheffield Island (Norwalk) Light	Norwalk	No	Yes	Call 203-838-9444 for ferry info.
Southwest Ledge (New Haven Breakwater) Light	New Haven	Yes	No	May be photographed from a boat. But it's just a breakwater light. Can also be photographed from grounds of Five Mile Point Light with a long lens.
Stamford Harbor (Chatham Rocks) Light	Stamford	No	No	May be photographed from a boat.
Stonington Harbor Light	New London	No	Yes	Museum keeper will let you climb tower, but there's no lens to shoot. Decent photos of the surrounding water and some land are possible from the top of the tower.
Stratford Point Light	Stratford	Yes	No	Good-looking light and house, but it's a private residence.
Stratford Shoal (Middle Ground) Light	Bridgeport	Yes	No	May be photographed from a boat.

Maine Lighthouses

Lighthouse	Location	Operational?	Public Access to Grounds?	Photography Notes
Baker Island Light	Mt. Desert Island	Yes	Yes	Grounds open in summer.
Bass Harbor Head Light	Mt. Desert Island	Yes	Yes	Best angles are toward the east, but you'll have to walk about 100 yards over rocky shoreline to do it. Light hits it all day. Grounds are open 9 a.m. to sunset. Use the path to the left to get down to the water.
Bear Island Light	Bear Island	Yes	No
Blue Hill Bay Light	Green Island	No	No	A great-looking lighthouse on an island in Blue Hill Bay. The lighthouse may be photographed from boat or plane (check the Bar Harbor airport for pilots).
Boon Island Light	York Beach	Yes	No
Browns Head Light	Vinalhaven Island	Yes	Yes	Pick up ferry from Vinalhaven.
Burnt Coat Harbor Light	Swans Island	Yes	Yes
Burnt Island Light	Southport	Yes	Yes	Grounds open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except in winter.
Cape Elizabeth Light	Cape Elizabeth	Yes	No	Two lights in Two Lights State Park. Photograph from boat.
Cape Neddick (Nubble) Light	York Beach	Yes	Yes	Light is out on a rock just off a rocky shore. Sun will rise directly behind it, and sunset light will hit it dead on. Plenty of room to work, but angles are limited to within about 90º of lighthouse.
Cuckolds Light	Southport	Yes	No
Curtis Island Light	Camden	Yes	Yes	Photographing from boat is easy. The only place where you can get a good shot from the mainland is on the shore directly west of the lighthouse (which is on an island); use a path from Bayview Avenue just south of town; path may be on private property, but if so, it's not posted as such. Shoot in end-of-day light from land.
Deer Island Thorofare Light	Mark Island	Yes	No
Dice Head Light (Old)	Castine	No	Yes, by appointment	Call 207-326-4502.
Doubling Point (Kennebec River) Range Lights	Arrowsic Island	Yes	No	Boardwalk leading to lighthouse makes nice foreground element.
Doubling Point Light	Arrowsic Island	Yes	No
Eagle Island Light	Deer Isle	Yes	No
Egg Rock Light	Bar Harbor	Yes	No
Fort Point Light	Stockton Springs	Yes	Yes
Franklin Island Light	Friendship	Yes	No
Goat Island Light	Kennebunkport	Yes	Yes, By Appointment	Can be photographed from docks at Cape Porpoise Harbor. Nice lighthouse with boardwalk and surrounding brush.
Goose Rocks Light	North Haven	Yes	No
Great Duck Island Light	Frenchboro	Yes	No
Grindel Point Light	Islesboro	Yes	Yes
Halfway Rock Light	Bailey Island	Yes	No	Can be photographed by boat, but be careful, there's a reason the lighthouse is there.
Hendricks Head Light	West Southport	Yes	No
Heron Neck Light	Green's Island	Yes	No
Indian Island Light	Indian Island	No	No
Isle Au Haut (Robinson Point) Light	Isle Au Haut	Yes	Yes
Libby Island Light	Machiasport	Yes	No
Little River Light	Little River Island	No	No
Lubec Channel Light	Lubec	Yes	No	May be photographed from boat or from shore along South Lubec Road.
Marshall Point Light	Port Clyde	Yes	Yes	Great lighthouse to shoot; bridge leads out to lighthouse. Light is good at beginning and end of day. Plenty of room to work, especially at low tide. Grounds are open dawn to dusk.
Matinicus Rock Light (Twin Towers)	Matinicus Island	Yes	Yes	You'll need a boat to get there. Boats run regularly in summer.
Monhegan Island Light	Monhegan Island	Yes	Yes
Moose Peak Light	Mistake Island	Yes	No
Mount Desert Rock Light	Mount Desert Island	Yes	No
Narraguagus (Pond Island) Light	Milbridge	No	No
Nash Island Light	South Addison	No	No
Owls Head Light	Owls Head	Yes	Yes	Doesn't open until 9 a.m., which is unfortunate because best time to shoot is at sunrise. No light hits it toward sunset. Stairs lead uphill toward lighthouse. Beware of foghorn in foggy conditions.
Pemaquid Point Light	Pemaquid Point	Yes	Yes	Plenty of room to work. Light is great at beginning and end of day. Long, striated rocks serve as good foreground in end-of-day light. Grounds don't open until well past sunrise, but you can drive in anyway and pay low fee later. Hotel Pemaquid is right there and costs $75 off-season. Otherwise, closest moderately priced accommodation is in Bath, a half hour away.
Perkins Island Light	Perkins Island	Yes	Yes
Petit Manan Light	Petit Manan Island	Yes	Yes	Grounds open September to March, but you'll need a boat. From mainland, distant view (but possible seascape shots with a very long lens) from road on east side of Schoodic Peninsula. Can also be photographed (again with a long lens) from Petit Manan Wildlife Refuge. Can also be photographed, of course, from boat.
Pond Island Light	Popham Beach	Yes	No
Portland Head Light	Cape Elizabeth	Yes	Yes	Very popular with photographers and tourists. Angles are great, plenty of room to work, light is good any time of day, but people will almost always be in your shot. Get there early.
Portland Breakwater Light ("Bug" Light)	South Portland	No	Yes	It's okay.
Prospect Harbor Point Light	Prospect Harbor	Yes	No	Good (and only) angles from nearby beach on the point. Best light end of day.
Pumpkin Island Light	Sargentville	No
Ram Island Ledge Light	Cape Elizabeth	Yes	No	Can be photographed from boat or from grounds of Portland Head Light. Plenty of daytime opportunities to shoot with passing boats in frame. Look for angle that includes both lights from hill behind Portland Head Light.
Ram Island Light	Ram Island	Yes	No
Rockland Harbor Breakwater Light	Rockland	Yes	Yes	Long walk on jetty to get there. Or can be photographed from boat.
Saddleback Ledge Light	Vinalhaven	Yes	No
Seguin Island Light	Seguin Island	Yes	Yes	Need a boat.
Spring Point Ledge Light	South Portland	Yes	Yes
Squirrel Point Light	Arrowsic Island	Yes	No
Tenants Harbor Light	Tenants Harbor	No	No	May be photographed by boat.
Two Bush Island Light	Sprucehead	Yes	No
West Quoddy Head Light	Lubec	Yes	Yes	Good access, good angles, good light at beginning and end of day. Can also be photographed from a boat. 20-30 minute drive from accommodations.
Whaleback Ledge Light	Kittery Point	Yes	No	May be photographed from Fort Constitution in New Hampshire or from Fort Foster in Maine. Light comes in at a better angle in the beginning of day, but is fine end-of-day as well. You'll need a long lens (at least 300mm)
Whitehead Island Light	Whitehead Island	Yes	No
Whitlocks Mill Light	Calais	Yes	No
Winter Harbor Light	Winter Harbor	No	No
Wood Island Light	Wood Island	Yes	No

Massachusetts Lighthouses

Lighthouse	Location	Operational?	Public Access to Grounds?	Photography Notes
Annisquam Harbor Light	Annisquam	Yes	No
Bakers Island Light	Bakers Island	Yes	No
Bass River Light	West Dennis	Yes	Yes
Bird Island Light	Marion	Yes	No
Borden Flats Light	Fall River	Yes	No
Boston Harbor Light	Boston	Yes	Yes
Brant Point Light	Nantucket Island	Yes	Yes	Nice lighthouse. Bridge leading to door. Short walk from ferry landing. Lots of room to work. Light hits it any time of day.
Butler Flats Light	New Bedford	Yes	No
Cape Ann (Thacher Island) Lights	Rockport	Yes	No
Cape Cod (Highland) Light	North Truro	Yes	Yes	Grounds open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., May to October. Plenty of room to work, but one side is flanked by a private-property golf course. Beginning- or end-of-day light is good. Nice white fence around and leading up to house.
Cape Poge (Pogue) Light	Edgartown	Yes	Yes
Chatham Light	Chatham	Yes	Yes	Ugh. Nice-looking light, you can get to it OK, but you are severely limited to where you can work. Pretty much just front-on angle, and you have to shoot over or through a chain-link fence, And you can't back up much or you'll get the near-constant flurry of tourists' cars in your foreground. There must be a nice angle from the beach or surrounding dunes, but I haven't found it yet.
Cleveland East Ledge Light	Pocasset	Yes	No	May be photographed from boat.
Duxbury Pier Light ("Bug" Light)	Duxbury	Yes	No
East Chop (Telegraph Hill) Light	Marthas Vineyard	Yes	Yes
Eastern Point Light	Gloucester	Yes	Yes
Edgartown Harbor Light	Edgartown	Yes	Yes
Fort Pickering (Winter Island) Light	Salem	Yes	Yes
Gay Head Light	Marthas Vineyard	Yes	Yes
The Graves Light	Winthrop	Yes	No
Hospital Point (Range Front) Light	Beverly	Yes	No
Hyannis (Range Rear) Light	Hyannis	No	No
Long Island Head Light	Long Island	Yes	No
Long Point Light	Provincetown	Yes	No	Your best option is a boat. However, you can walk: Park at Pilgrim's Landing, walk across the breakwall and turn left. Keep walking. The lighthouse is about half a mile. Plan on two hours walking round-trip, four if you want to want to also photograph Wood End Light. Go at low tide.
Marblehead Light	Marblehead	Yes	Yes	Skeletal frame. Don't bother.
Minots Ledge Light	Cohasset Rocks, Scituate	Yes	No	May be photographed from boat.
Monomoy Point Light	Monomoy Island	No	Yes
Nauset Light	North Eastham	Yes	Yes
Ned's Point Light	Mattapoisett	Yes	Yes
Newburyport Harbor (Plum Island) Light	Newburyport	Yes	Yes
Newburyport Harbor Range Lights	Newburyport	No	No
Nobska Point Light	Woods Hole	Yes	Yes	Lots of room to work, but you're limited in range; the light is operational and grounds are thus closed except for a handful of open-house dates per year (see schedule). Therefore, you need to work around the property, which is possible, but you need to navigate around the road and cliff down to the water. Morning light is fantastic. Some great angles include the parking lot, so you may want to arrive before other cars do (i.e. early).
Palmer Island Light	New Bedford	Yes	Yes
Plymouth (Gurnet) Light	Duxbury	Yes	Yes
Race Point Light	Provincetown	Yes	Yes	Reachable by boat, 4-wheel-drive (you'll need a permit for the latter) or a two-mile walk from Race Point Beach. Light is best early morning and early evening, but the sun will hit the lighthouse from any angle all day.
Sandy Neck Light	West Barnstable	No	No
Sankaty Head Light	Nantucket Island	Yes	Yes
Scituate Light	Scituate	Yes	Yes
Stage Harbor Light	West Chatham	No	No	Can be photographed from Harding's Beach.
Straitsmouth Island Light	Straitsmouth Island	Yes	No
Tarpaulin Cove Light	Naushon Island (Elizabeth Islands)	Yes	No
Ten Pound Island Light	Ten Pound Island Light	Yes	No	May be photographed from boat.
Three Sisters Lights (Three Towers)	Eastham	No	Yes	If you're looking for a classic lighthouse seascape, don't waste your time here. However, if you're looking to shoot three lighthouses relocated together in the middle of the woods, then, well, here you go. Mid-day, slightly-overcast light only.
West Chop Light	Marthas Vineyard	Yes	No	Can be photographed from the road.
Wings Neck Light	Patuisett	No	No	Very nice lighthouse, but it's on private property. To shoot it, you can photograph it by boat or rent the house for a week ($2,500 to $4,200 as of 2006).
Wood End Light	Provincetown	Yes	No	Light hits the house all day. Your best option is a boat. However, you can walk: Park at Pilgrim's Landing, walk across the breakwall and turn left. Keep walking. The lighthouse is about half a mile. Plan on two hours walking round-trip, four if you want to want to also photograph Long Point Light. Go at low tide.

New Hampshire Lighthouses

Lighthouse	Location	Operational?	Public Access to Grounds?	Photography Notes
Isle Of Shoals (White Island) Light	Portsmouth	Yes	No
Portsmouth Harbor (Newcastle) Light	Newcastle	Yes	No	May be photographed from Fort Constitution in New Hampshire, or (more distantly) from Fort Foster in Maine. Light comes in at a better angle in the beginning of day, but is fine end-of-day as well. You'll need at least a short telephoto lens.

Rhode Island Lighthouses

Lighthouse	Location	Operational?	Public Access to Grounds?	Photography Notes
Beavertail Light	Conanicut Island, Jamestown	Yes	Yes	Decent angles to work from. Large parking lot. Part of park. Lots of people around in nice weather. Shoot any time of day.
Block Island (North) Light	Block Island	Yes	Yes
Block Island (Southeast) Light	Block Island	Yes	Yes
Brenton Reef Light	South of Narragansett Bay		No	Accessible only by water or air. Skeletal tower, but interesting.
Bristol Ferry Light	Bristol	No	No
Castle Hill Light	Newport	Yes	No	The lighthouse is on the property of Castle Hill Inn. Though it's private property, management is known to readily give permission for photographers and artists to work around the lighthouse. Sun hits the lighthouse very well at sunset, and it's possible to shoot the sunset behind the light. Morning light doesn't hit the lighthouse until about half an hour after sunrise because of nearby trees. Plenty of room to work, but wear shoes that will allow you to walk around on the surrounding rocks.
Conanicut Island Light (Old)	Conanicut Island, Jamestown	No	No
Conimicut Shoal Light	Warwick	Yes	No	Go to Conimicut State Park. Lighthouse is out in the water, but you can get close enough to shoot at low tide.
Dutch Island Light	Dutch Island, Jamestown	No	Yes
Hog Island Shoal Light	Portsmouth	Yes	No
Ida Lewis Rock Light	Newport	Yes	No
Nayatt Point Light	Barrington	No	No
Newport Harbor (Goat Island) Light	Newport	Yes	Yes	May be photographed from boat or from the island. A great view is from the parking lot at the edge of the bridge leading to Goat Island, especially at the end of the day, when the sun sets right behind the lighthouse. For semi-front-light, early morning is best. Also accessible from the grounds of the Hyatt.
Plum Beach Light	Washington	No	No	May be photographed from boat.
Point Judith Light	Washington	Yes	Yes	Rocky beach, sunlight hits lighthouse from any angle (no obstructions). All angles to shoot from have a lot of sky, so best conditions would be with white clouds in the sky. Grounds are not always open (no hours are posted, though), but adjoining beach can be accessed any time.
Pomham Rocks Light (Old)	East Providence	No	No	May be photographed by boat, and is worth the trip.
Poplar Point Light	North Kingstown	No	No
Prudence Island (Sandy Point) Light	Portsmouth	Yes	No
Rose Island Light	Newport	Yes	Yes	May be photographed from boat. There are no public docks on the island, so you may pull ashore only a kayak or similarly small boat, at the beach on either side of the lighthouse. The Jamestown-Newport ferry stops at the island from late May to Labor Day. Access to parts of the island is prohibited from April 1 and August 15 because of bird nesting. Public access to island is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information.
Sakonnet Point Light	Little Compton	Yes	No	Light hits it all day, and it sits on a small natural rock surrounded by water. However, you need a boat, unless you have a long lens to hit it from shore (which is possible); or you can get creative.
Warwick Light	Warwick	Yes	No	A very nice lighthouse, but unfortunately closed to the public. Additionally, all the surrounding shoreline is on private property, so this light needs to be photographed from a boat.
Watch Hill Light	Watch Hill	Yes	Yes	Access to the light is through a small private neighborhood; no cars allowed, but you can walk a couple hundred yards to get there. Grounds are open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Chain-link fence around the light spoils the view a little. Good angles from surrounding rocky beach. A decent late-day angle is from the beach just west of the light, but requires a 10-minute walk over sand dunes; park in the Watch Hill Parking Lot, but be aware that it's busy from mid-morning to late afternoon during summer (any other time is fine).

Vermont Lighthouses

Lighthouse	Location	Operational?	Public Access to Grounds?	Photography Notes
Colchester Reef Light	Shelburne, L. Champlain	No	Yes
Isle La Motte Light	Isel La Motte, L. Champlain	No	No
Juniper Island Light	Burlington, L. Champlain	No	No
Windmill Point Light	Alburg, L. Champlain	No	No

See More American Lighthouse Guides

Photographer's Guide to New England Lighthouses

Connecticut Lighthouses

Maine Lighthouses

Massachusetts Lighthouses

New Hampshire Lighthouses

Rhode Island Lighthouses

Vermont Lighthouses

Photographer's Guide
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