Maine Lighthouse Tour

After church and lunch at the Beach Plum in Portsmouth, NH, we drove up the coast to the “Nubble” lighthouse in York, Maine near the entrance to the York River. 

You can’t actually drive to the lighthouse because it’s on an island just off of Cape Neddick and neither the lighthouse nor the property is open to the public. But you can get a very good view of the lighthouse from Sohier Park which is on the mainland adjacent to the light. 

Nubble Lighthouse

Unfortunately, when we got there the parking lot was full and there was no place nearby to park the truck. There appeared to be a wedding in the park which we supposed accounted for some of the crowd but the view from the truck made a drive-by the way to go. Mary took pictures from her window as the light was on her side of the truck. 

A Closer Look at Nubble Lighthouse

As we left the park and headed back down Route 1A, we found several places we could stop and get long-range pictures of the lighthouse.

From York, we drove back down to Wallis Sands State Beach at Rye, NH for a short visit to the beach. Wa-a-ay off-shore is the Isles of Shoals lighthouse. Unfortunately we couldn’t see it even with the super-zoom lens on Lee’s camera.

Wallis Sands State Beach

After a few minutes on the beach even watching one guy in the freezing surf, we headed south to Fort Constitution State Park in Portsmouth. 

It was getting late in the day when we got there but we took a few minutes to look around the Fort before going over to the Portsmouth Harbor lighthouse which is actually in New Castle. Lee went up into the lighthouse but the stairs kept Mary on the ground. Whaleback light is the other light in the Portsmouth harbor. Not nearly as attractive but just as functional.

Portsmouth Harbor lighthouse

Whaleback Lighthouse

Inside the Portsmouth Lighthouse

Looking out the windows at Portsmouth Lighthouse

Whaleback Lighthouse

L

Lee at the top of the Lighthouse

Looking through the Fort wall window

When we were finished at the lighthouse, it was time for supper. We’d had such a delicious meal for lunch at the Beach Plum, we went back there again but this time had scallops and shrimp. Delicious!

The sun is setting so it must be time to head back home!