Our First Lighthouse Hunt

The first time Rob & I hit the road with the sole purpose of seeing lighthouses was his birthday in 2010. We chose one of those rare, perfect September days, and it was a blast!
We mapped out a route along the southeast coast of Mass., but first we started on the East Providence bike path, which has a decent view of Pomham Rocks (1871) in the river. It’s obscure but pretty, and until that year, it was owned by ExxonMobile. The oil conglomerate bought it in 1981, but for unknown reasons decided to donate it to the Friends of Pomham Rocks, a local chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation.

 

We got back on 95 south and crossed into Fall River to see Borden Flats (1881). We took a left off exit 5 to get to the Borden Flats Marina, which has a restaurant and outdoor lounge. Some people may look at you oddly for walking in, taking a picture of the tiny lighthouse with the hulking power plant in the background and then leaving. You’ll never see them again – onward to New Bedford.

Clarks Point  (1869, at Fort Taber), Butler Flats (1898), and Palmer Island are with 2.8 miles of each other. For the first two, just park at the fort and walk down the breakwater to see both.
Butler Flats is a sparkplug in the channel, so it’s completely inaccessible. Make sure your camera has a good zoom.

 

The fort is another story.
We didn’t know you weren’t supposed to go inside, not that we got very far. We got to only the first hallway, then turned and ran at the same time. It was a combination of seeing the broken beer bottles, the apparent homeless camp, and an inexplicable tingling in the spine telling us to get out of there. No offense to the homeless, and we’re not entirely convinced of ghosts and hauntings, but this is one fort we will never explore. It’s a massive, dark, labyrinthine place – just stick to the exterior and you’ll get some decent shots. 

By the time we got to Palmer Island (1849) it was already getting late (we like our sleep on the weekends). Between the hurricane of 38, arson, and vandalism, this light should be gone, but the good people of New Bedford won’t give up on it. It’s tricky to get to (and only at low-tide), and we barely got out! Park across the street, walk the hurricane barrier, get onto the beach area, and keep to the left to get to the northern tip of the island. I stayed behind on the beach area to text him when the tide was coming back in. I picked some shells, people watched, and relaxed. As the water got closer, I discovered that I didn’t have a cell signal. I also had no idea where Rob was. So I waited… toe-tapping… no Rob. So I did the only reasonable thing I could think of – started yelling his name. A guy walking past with his dog looked at me funny – like I wasn’t used to that! And it worked! Poison ivy and oak be damned, the birthday boy came bounding down through the brush in the center of the island, “I got the shot,” grabbed my hand and we ran through the watery beach.

The nerd-flag was flying high this day, my friends.

We lost some time getting lost on the way to Mattapoisett, but it turned out for the best – we got to Ned’s Point (1838) at sunset! Maybe I wouldn’t have liked it that much otherwise. That’s my favorite time of day – you don’t see those brilliant, naturally occurring ombre colors any other time. The land is a well-kept veteran’s memorial park, and on certain days in summer the lighthouse is open to visitors. We took the most photos this one (look, it’s a robot!).

Bird Island was so close, but the sun was gone and our friends were already texting us that they had a table at the restaurant… and we were an hour from home. Good thing they love us.