MARYLAND & DELAWARE (1996)

I painted the middle room today. I will repaint the middle room tomorrow. These are the thirstiest walls ever. The front room gets done Wednesday. Thursday the becomes MY day TURKEY POINT...MISPILLION RIVER...HARBOR OF REFUGE...DELAWARE BREAKWATER...HEREFORD INLET. They are all on the list.

I posted four inquiries yesterday. I heard from LHSMAN1 today. Turkey Point would be a mile hike from the parking area in Elk Neck State Park. He also told of a bicycle trip made to JONES POINT, a light near his campus at Georgetown. I'll be writing back after Thursday, telling him about MY trip and relaying the fact that many years ago, before Adam was walking, on the way home from my brother-in-law's, I made a trip to Jones Point, though not by bike. That will either make me feel really old...or him really young.

It was cold and it was dark. My clothes readied last night, I dressed and walked the dog. I packed lunch, drinks, and snacks. I downed some coffee. I had my notebook and a couple of pencils, my Rand-McNally and Kochel by the door. I checked to make sure I had enough film.

Stars shining, I sighted Orion and the Big Dipper. I gathered my gear, put on my coat, and brought my "Big Dog" for extra warmth. As I drove Memorial Drive, about a mile from home, I started taking mental inventory. Item by item I clicked the off list off. I felt like an ass. All I forgot was the camera. I retreated, retrieved, and started over.

5:07AM

OCEAN GROVE

I left again. This time complete.

5:46 AM - Mileage 35.3

NJ TURNPIKE

Mom's Peppermill is at the crossroads of NJ, where Rte.33 intersects the NJ Turnpike. Every college student in the state, past or present, at one time or another, has rendezvous'd there. This was a preadult landmark in the education of NJ youth. Now with the completion of I-195, the trip to midstate has been cut by fifteen minutes, bypassing Mom's completley. I was making excellent time.

Paying the toll, I figured to be about forty miles from the first light. I caffeined at the "Gourmet Bean." I'll be looking for Maryland State Hiway 272.

Drawn on a map, MD 272 is a skinny, gray line. TURKEY POINT is within Elk Neck State Park. I passed through the town of North East, a beautiful small one-light village. There were signs everywhere for the park. There was one for the designated camping area. There was one for the maintenance area. There was one for the ranger's headquarters. There was NO park sign to the lighthouse.

This "skinny gray line" changed elevation several times; it zigged right...it zagged left...and seemed never to go straight more than 100 feet at a time. Oddly, I came through the park into a residential area and I was confused. The road continued but, knowing the water was to my right, I bailed, turning right on Caldwell Avenue. This road went up, curved to the left, then brought me back to the main road. I continued because instructions read the light was at "the very end" of MD 272.

A gate blocked the road, a sign reading "authorized vehicles only!!!" Hesitantly parking the van at this early hour, I grabbed my camera and took off for the mile's hike. So pretty, it was a hundred foot drop to the water on the right. To the left was heavy brush. The dirt path curved to the left and opened up to a grass field. On either side were bales of hay, I assumed, to feed the deer. I was thinking about the wild boar in "The Thornbirds." Another quarter mile the road turned right through a stand of trees. Here Yogi took over; "If you see a fork in the road, take it." In the next clearing was a four-foot sign post stuck in the ground with the word "lighthouse" letterered vertically. There were two small blue arrows pointing left. Through a few more trees, the light was now in front of me.

How could the view NOT be spectacular. TURKEY POINT marks the separation of the Elk and Northeast Rivers at the head of Chesapeake Bay. Though short, the light was 135 feet above the water, as high as many coastal lights. So beautiful was it out there overlooking the waters. Two rolls were shot quickly, a third begun. I walked to the edge. I looked down. I looked right. I looked left. Just spectacular.

Returning to the van, there was no wild boar. There WERE deer. I checked the maps, headed back up MD 272 looking for the junction of US 40. This would lead back to Delaware, to the next light.

...and it was on this revrese journey back up the hiway that I formed the corollary to my rule of thumb. When searching for a light in a stange location, look for "Lighthouse Road" or "Beacon Avenue." Now there is a third possiblilty. Look for the name of the light in the street name. MD 272 was also TURKEY POINT ROAD.

The idea was Route 40E to Route 113S to Route 1S to Route 36E to where the Mispillion River empties into Delaware Bay. "Lighthouse Digest" placed the MISPILLION RIVER LIGHT on their endangered list. I wanted to see why. Making just one wrong turn, the route was flawless. On Business Route 1, I passed over a drawbridge, drawn with huge printed script that read MISPILLION RIVER. The next left was DEL36. I should have turned left at the sign for the "Mispillion Lighthouse Marina and Bait Shop", but I didn't see the arrow. The light tower was visible to the left. I cut across the next road but that wasn't the way. I doubled back, turned at the sign, and drove to the light.

The sight was not a pretty one. Not your classic tower, the MISPILLION RIVER LIGHT is a house with a tower, deep-red shingled, cedar roofed, with a red lantern room. What immediately struck me was the broken glass from the windows and lantern, completely shattered. Paint was worn. Wood was splintered. The surrounding area was not much better. Docks were in disrepair. Small shacks were run down, maybe deserted. Contrast this with the gentle sounds of water lapping at the shoreline and the nautical view of the inlet leading to the bay.

I took rolls here. A short walk back to the van, I'm shaking my head, thinking of what I just saw. I was thinking how Sea Girt Light had been restored, from pictures I had seen to pictures I had taken. I've been reading about efforts at Nauset Beach and Highland Light in Massachusettes to save lights on the verge of collapse and I wonder if there will be any local effort to save this light.

While on vacation this past August I suffered brain lock. I took pictures of the DELAWARE BREAKWATER LIGHT in the ferry harbor, but didn't shoot the abandoned HARBOR OF REFUGE so close by. I thought it was some unnamed structure. It wasn't until later I realized it was a named beacon. I was determined to shoot it, and shoot it before next year's North Carolina trip.

I found my way back to Rt. 1 and headed South. I was heading for Cape Henlopen State Park. I left the van near a fishing pier. It was exceptionally long and it placed me close. Some of the shots will include both lights. I shot alot...one light...both lights...lights with birds near them...lights with boats sailing by...

11:45 AM - Mileage 255.3

LEWES FERRY TERMINAL

I felt good, really good, about this morning. The beauty of Turkey Point...the sadness of Mispillion River...and the dual pleasure at Cape Henlopen. I also felt I had too much time to kill. I was booked on the 1:20 ferry back to New Jersey.

The attendant gave me my boarding pass and I parked behind a red Jeep Wagoneer. In the terminal, I bought some postcards, took brochures with lights on the covers, a newspaper, and then back to the van to eat. Zack got his "foggy" postcard, I got my geographical magnet, and after finishing lunch, plotted the NJ portion of the trip; HEREFORD INLET for sure, and if there was time, see what Kochel saw at Ludlum Beach in Sea Isle City.

Leaving as scheduled, I was first in my line, which meant if the ferry stopped short, the van went overboard, all others going in on top of me. I spent the crossing rewriting my notes, checking out the maps posted inside, and made an inexpensive trip to the souvenir kiosk.

Forty minutes into the trip the light at Cape May Point was visible. It showed me why I like the costal lights best. It was huge, standing out against all else on the horizon, very much unlike the lights I had seen this day. It was the physical embodiment of the term "sentinel." No lights I've seen in the past few weeks, whether it was the Conover Beacon, Tarrytown, Turkey Point, or East Point, come close to the 157 foot tall tower at Cape May. Different lights for different purposes I know. This was just a remarkable contrast.

3:08 PM - Mileage 268.8

HEREFORD INLET LIGHT

I wanted to see the HEREFORD INLET LIGHT again. I was here in 1981 and looked at the pictures this week. Then it was a plain, dirty white structure with a black tower, hugging Hereford Inlet. Today it was beautiful. Trimmed red, white, and blue, the grounds have been landscaped, the seawall has been bolstered, and the dune grasses have been allowed to grow. I read about restoration work that had been done. Today it was beautiful. What a contrast with Mispillion!

3:56 PM - Mileage 282.9

LUDLUM BEACH LIGHT

Kochel mentioned a lighthouse a few miles north of Hereford Inlet, at Sea Isle City. He said it no longer had a tower, that it was now a private residence. A street address was provided. As long as I was this close I needed to take a look. Why else have Kochel? Well, LUDLUM BEACH LIGHT" bore no resemblance to a light, it was painted ugly sea foam green and white, and trimmed in a fleshy tone.I was only glad it was near the county road which led back to the Garden State Parkway.

5:41 PM - Mileage 372.0

OCEAN GROVE

I had stopped for gas down around Waretown and called home. Zack, in 6th grade, got good news, that he would now be practicing basketball with the 8th graders. Short on talent, long on enhusiasm, he now becomes live fodder for the first team...but he'll get lots of good practice now.

Home I came, pleased with the day's efforts...the day's results.

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