SOUTHWEST NEW JERSEY

When I think of New Jersey lighthouses I always think of TWIN LIGHTS first. The familiarity of BARNEGAT followed, then the tall Atlantic towers...SANDY HOOK, ABSECON, and CAPE MAY. Years ago, returning from Cape May, we took the island-hopping route and stumbled into an ugly HEREFORD INLET light. While out one day I saw a postcard of a lighthouse in Sea Girt, not five miles from my home. I never knew it existed. I nearly broke my arm protecting my camera as I slipped on a jetty while shooting it.

I never knew about the river lights or the lights in Delaware Bay. They would be found years later, quite recently, in my current lighthouse phase. Today I shot three river lights. The lights in the bay are waiting.

So, this day was a great day! It was a day just for me, maybe the first since summer began. My interest in lighthouses renewed, I knew the boys' baseball schedules are over, two days off a week would again now be mine. I had my new camera and lens, I found the New Jersey Lighthouse Society online, and everyone else, Mere and the boys, were back at school.

I wanted to shoot three lights and still make Adam's soccer match this afternoon. With internet help and a state published pamphlet, I went looking for EAST POINT, FINN'S POINT, and the TINICUM REAR RANGE Lights. I have never been, in my 42 years, in this "southwest" part of the state. Getting to the general area was easy, and when I got local, I had my "rule of thumb." Two of the three would be located on LIGHTHOUSE ROAD, the third was on BEACON AVENUE.

Being the furthest, I chose EAST POINT LIGHT first . Ocean Grove is Exit 100 on the Garden State Parkway. Southbound, I needed to exit at 17. Cutting west across the top of Cape May County, I headed for the upper inner curve of Delaware Bay. Again heading north I became impatient, feeling I was in this direction too long. About to retreat, I passed a road sign highlighting a lighthouse. I turned left. Three miles later I was waterside at the light.

EAST POINT LIGHT was pretty. A bit run down, it's a two-story white brick house with a red tower topping it. The windows were boarded and painted areas were worn, rusted in spots, chipped in others. With a boat launch, tall reeds, and many dead horseshoe crabs, the setting was ideal. An information board telling of local history and an imminent restoration project was on the property. The waters of the bay were calm, lapping up the shore. Looking out onto Delaware Bay, it wasn't difficult to imagine the importance of this light.

Heislerville is the town closest to East Point. It sounded like the name of a town with a general store but I couldn't find one. North thru the towns of Millville and Bridgton, lI was looking to find Fort Mott. Not difficult to locate, it appeared on every map. As with East Point, the "historic area" road sign was illustrated with a lighthouse.

FINN'S POINT LIGHT is not a classic light. This was a tall black metal cylindrical tower with supporting black spider arm beams forming a triangular web around it. From memory, the only similar light I had seen was years ago at Marblehead (Mass). To get a "wet" picture at East Point was easy. Here it would take some creativity. The river was not visible, not even close. A watering hole, maybe it was a small lake, was. I parked roadside, stepped onto private property, and shot pictures between trees with the small pond fronting the scene, certainly not classic, but "wet" nonetheless.

I've crossed the Delaware Memorial Bridge countless times, always approaching from the north, always from the NJ TURNPIKE. Odd for me today, traveling in this part of the state were the signs for the bridge. To see the way noted as DMB, 28 miles north, was peculiar and disorientating. Also, except for the area just south of the bridge, being somewhat rural, fast food restaurants were few, lavatory access was scarce, and too many MAC machines were not accessible for my card.

I found this day's last light, the TINICUM REAR RANGE LIGHT, in the strangest of places. North from Fort Mott, near the town of Paulsboro, with a drawbridge in front of me, I turned left towards the river. It was a hunch, because there were no lighthouse signs for guidance. Assuming the water in front of me emptied into the nearby Delaware, I figured the light would be on either side of this river. I "hunched" well because a few miles down that road I saw the light tower, a structure similar to Finn's Point. The oddity was it was in a fenced-off area in the center of the Paulsboro Little League complex, decidedly up the hill from the river, which could not be seen from the base of this light. To the north were many oil tanks, to the south and west were private homes. I need to write the town of Paulsboro, asking how the light came to be where it came to be.

The "primary objective", the "wet one," would again not be met. The second objective becomes some sort of establishment shot, maybe with the street name visible. I managed that, the street sign for "Beacon Avenue," in the foreground. A full block away, with the sky gray and the angle awkward, this would not be a classic shot.

Finding my way home was next. I zig-zagged through downtown Paulsboro, made my way to I-295, and from there it was easy. I made the soccer match on time, just as the rain began to fall. After giving up an early goal Adam's team tied the match late on a penalty shot and it ended 1-1 after an OT where we hit the crossbar solid, but could not put it in.

EAST POINT was idyllic and calm...FINN'S POINT was dark and imposing...TINICUM was isolated and unique. I accomplished a lot this day and I hope it is the beginning of many similar trips.

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