The New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge Returns this Weekend!

The New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge returns this weekend for its 25th anniversary – October 19th and 20th, 2024. This is an exciting annual event that invites participants to explore the state’s rich maritime history by visiting its iconic lighthouses.

Throughout the weekend, lighthouse enthusiasts and adventurers alike can embark on a self-guided tour of New Jersey’s coastal beacons, from Sandy Hook to Cape May, and even a few inland lights. The challenge encourages visitors to climb, learn, and appreciate these historic structures, all while enjoying scenic views and the unique charm of each location. It’s a fun and educational experience for individuals and families, celebrating New Jersey’s lighthouse heritage.

The goal of the New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge is to visit all the designated sites. Participants will explore 11 lighthouses, 3 lifesaving stations, and 1 museum, totaling 15 sites, though there are only 14 stops as one location has two lighthouses. The Challenge runs from 8 AM on Saturday to 6 PM on Sunday, with sites open during those hours. On Saturday, three locations offer special night climbs from 6 to 8 PM. Participants can begin and finish at any site, allowing them to plan their own route.

The registration cost is $5, which includes a souvenir holder—this year a booklet to collect silver stamps in celebration of the 25th Challenge. There is no additional fee unless participants choose to climb the lighthouses, as some locations charge a climbing fee. Children 11 and under can climb for free when accompanied by an adult.

Upon completing the Challenge, participants should inform staff at their final stop. Staff will verify if all sites have been visited, and those who complete the Challenge will receive a completion sticker and have their name entered into a drawing for a prize basket filled with lighthouse-themed items. There are three prize baskets, with the grand prize valued at over $500.

For full information on timing and pricing, click here.

Lighthouses Available to Visit During the New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge Weekend:

Absecon Lighthouse (Atlantic County)
31 S Rhode Island Ave, Atlantic City, NJ
Absecon Lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in New Jersey and the third tallest in the country! It has a whomping 171 feet tall and takes you 228 steps to get to the top. Once you reach the top, you’ll get beautiful views of Atlantic City and the Atlantic Ocean PLUS it’s the only lighthouse in New Jersey with its original first-order Fresnel Lens still in place.

Cape May Lighthouse (Cape May County)
215 Light House Ave, Cape May Point, NJ
Located on the southern tip of New Jersey, Cape May Point State Park is a key site on the NJ Coastal Heritage Trail, with an environmental center that houses a classroom for interpretive programs and a museum on the area’s natural and historic features. The 157-foot-high lighthouse is still an aid to navigation. Visitors who climb the 199 steps to the top of the lighthouse are rewarded with a spectacular panoramic view of the scenic Cape May peninsula.

Delaware Bay Lights
There are 8 lighthouses located in the Delaware Bay, accessible only by boat. The oldest is Brandywine Light, lit in 1850. The newest Miah Maull, which was permanently lit in 1913. Take our virtual tour of the Delaware Bay Lights to learn about the construction and current status of these lighthouses at the Cape May Lighthouse during the Lighthouse Challenge.

Tatham Lifesaving Station & Museum (Cape May County)
117th Street & 2nd Avenue, Stone Harbor, NJ
The Stone Harbor Life Saving Station, built-in 1895, was recently placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Climb the tower to observe the vistas of the Atlantic Ocean, Hereford Inlet, and the back bays that the surfmen continuously monitored for ships in distress.

US Lifesaving Station 30 (Cape May County)
801 E 4th St, Ocean City, NJ
This Ocean City station was called Beasley’s Station until 1883. Rebuilt in 1885-1886, it is the only U.S. Life Saving Service station left in New Jersey that was rebuilt according to the Service’s distinctive 1882-type design. This design is both stunning architecturally, with its gabled roof and lookout tower, and highly effective in the use of space to house both boats and surfmen.

East Point Lighthouse (Cumberland County)
10 Lighthouse Rd, Heislerville, NJ
The East Point Light, known as the Maurice River Light before 1913, is a lighthouse located in Heislerville on Delaware Bay at the mouth of the Maurice River.

Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse (Gloucester County)
2nd St, Paulsboro, NJ
The historic Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse is located at Second Street and Mantua Ave in Paulsboro, New Jersey, along the shores of the Delaware River. The lighthouse is a steel skeletal structure standing 85 feet tall with 112 steps leading from the neoclassical pavilion at the base of the tower to the lantern room. Directly below the lantern room is the watch room, which has a unique wood lined closet that curves along the circular outer wall of the tower. Along with the light tower was a keeper’s dwelling, consisting of seven rooms, brick oil house, frame barn and barnyard, cow shed, poultry house and a privy situated on 4.8 acres of land.

Sandy Hook Lighthouse (Monmouth County)
85 Mercer Rd, Highlands, NJ
The Sandy Hook Lighthouse, located about one and a half statute miles inland from the tip of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, is the oldest working lighthouse in the United States

Sea Girt Lighthouse (Monmouth County)
9 Ocean Ave, Sea Girt, NJ
Sea Girt Lighthouse is the last live-in lighthouse built on the Atlantic Coast. Sea Girt Lighthouse was built, on the orders of the U.S. Light-House Board, in 1896 to illuminate a dark spot midway in the 38½-mile stretch between the Navesink and Barnegat Lighthouses.

Squan Beach Lifesaving Station (Monmouth County)
124 Ocean Ave, Manasquan, NJ
The Squan Beach Life Saving Station was established to respond to near-shore disasters. While residents were shuttering windows against hurricanes and wild northeasters, the station’s goal was to rescue victims and to protect property on shipwrecks off the Manasquan Coast. Squan Beach Life Saving Station was first constructed in 1855 and replaced in 1872. The present station was built in 1902.

Twin Lights of Navesink (Monmouth County)
2 Light House Rd, Highlands, NJ
Situated 200 feet above sea level atop the Navesink Highlands, Twin Lights has stood as a sentinel over the treacherous coastal waters of northern New Jersey since 1828. Named Navesink Lightstation, it became known as the “Twin Lights of Highlands” to those who used its mighty beacons to navigate

Barnegat Lighthouse (Ocean County)
208 Broadway, Barnegat Light, NJ
Barnegat Lighthouse State Park is located on the northern tip of Long Beach Island. It will take you 217 steps to get to the top where you can you’ll get a panoramic view of Island Beach, Barnegat Bay, and Long Beach Island.

Bonus! The Bargengat Lighthouse Museum
The museum is in the building that was the one-room school for Barnegat Light from 1903 to 1951. The museum is on the National Register of Historical Places. The museum features artifacts, replicas and photographs depicting the history of Barnegat Light and Long Beach Island.

Tuckerton Seaport and Baymen’s Museum (Ocean County)
120 W Main St, Tuckerton, NJ
The Tucker’s Island Lighthouse features exhibits on privateers and pirates of the Jersey Coast, Tuckerton designated as the third Port of Entry at the start of a new nation for receipt and departure of intra and international trade and travel, the origins of the U.S. Life Saving Service, shipwrecks and the Jersey Shore’s first resort.

Finns Point Near Range Light (Salem County)
Fort Mott & Lighthouse Rds, Pennsville, NJ
This 1876 wrought iron lighthouse is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Originally constructed in Buffalo, New York and then moved here by train and mule-wagon, this unusual wrought-iron, open-frame, lighthouse was built at a cost of $1,200 in 1876. Standing 115 feet tall, it featured a 24-inch range lens with double wick burner and kerosene vapor lamp emitting 150,000 candlepower. Close by is Fort Mott State Park, a 104-acre waterfront park with buildings and gun emplacements from the Spanish – American War.

About the Lighthouse Keepers of NJ:
The Lighthouse Keepers of New Jersey is a  collaboration of representatives of each of the sites on the Lighthouse Challenge of New Jersey.  Formed in 2010, the Keepers meet throughout the year to plan that year’s Challenge, apply for grant funding for marketing, design the logo and souvenirs each year, contribute to the prize basket awarded at the end of the Challenge, and do whatever is necessary to ensure that all participants have a good time, learn about New Jersey’s lighthouses and lifesaving stations and enjoy two days of traveling around the state while taking part in the annual Lighthouse Challenge of New Jersey.

For more New Jersey events throughout the year, check out our Event Guide.

For more New Jersey adventures and New Jersey Events, be sure to follow along on Instagram, @newjerseyisntboring, and Insta Stories! Don’t forget to tag your own NJ fun with #NJisntBoring.