WayfarrowGreater Bridgeport and Southeastern Connecticut Counties, Connecticut Lighthouse Road Trip: 10 Lights in One Day
10 stops175 milesabout 5 hr 1 min of drivingGreater Bridgeport and Southeastern Connecticut Counties, Connecticut
This route strings together ten Connecticut lighthouses across 175 miles, starting at New London Harbor Light and finishing at Lynde Point Light. Expect roughly five hours behind the wheel, including a 72.2-mile leg that links the Southeastern Connecticut stops to the Greater Bridgeport group. The last two lights sit in South Central Connecticut and the Lower Connecticut River Valley. The towers span a long stretch of building, from New London's 1801 stone tower to a 1966 museum replica at Mystic Seaport, in granite, brownstone, cast iron, wood and concrete. Several went dark long ago: Five Mile Point in 1877, Stonington Harbor in 1889, Morgan Point in 1919, Black Rock Harbor in 1932 and Avery Point in 1967, though Avery Point was relit in 2006. Start early, since the driving alone fills much of a day, and check access locally before setting out for any stop.
Route and drive times from OpenStreetMap routing (OSRM). Times are estimates without stops; roads to remote sites can be unpaved or seasonal.
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1. New London Harbor Light
Southeastern Connecticut County, Connecticut · built 1801
Russ / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0 Start at New London Harbor Light, a station that dates from 1760/61. The current 89-foot stone tower, designed by Abisha Woodward, replaced the original in 1801 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its light shows Iso W 6s with a red sector, and its range is 17 nautical miles.
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↓ 12.7 miles, about 22 min
2. Mystic Seaport Light
Southeastern Connecticut County, Connecticut · built 1966
Ad Meskens / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 About 22 minutes (12.7 miles) on, Mystic Seaport Light is a different sort of lighthouse: a full-size 1966 wooden replica of the 1901 Brant Point Light, operated by Mystic Seaport on the Mystic River. It's never been an official navigation light. The 25-foot tower now houses a lighthouse exhibit and shows a fixed white light.
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↓ 5.4 miles, about 13 min
3. Stonington Harbor Light
Southeastern Connecticut County, Connecticut · built 1840
Kenneth C. Zirkel / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 A short 13-minute hop of 5.4 miles brings you to Stonington Harbor Light. The station dates to 1823, but erosion claimed that tower, and its stones went into the present 1840 granite lighthouse. Decommissioned in 1889, the 35-foot, National Register-listed tower now houses the Old Lighthouse Museum, run by the Stonington Historical Society.
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↓ 8.7 miles, about 21 min
4. Morgan Point Light
Southeastern Connecticut County, Connecticut · built 1868
Rhvanwinkle (talk) / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 Granite again at Morgan Point Light, 21 minutes and 8.7 miles from Stonington. Built in 1868 to replace an 1831 tower, it was shut down in 1919 and is now privately owned. Sources differ on its size: Wikipedia and New England Lighthouses give 52 feet, while the USLHS archive lists 44 feet from base to lantern center.
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↓ 7.7 miles, about 18 min
5. Avery Point Light
Southeastern Connecticut County, Connecticut · built 1943
Pi.1415926535 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 Avery Point Light, 18 minutes (7.7 miles) on, is the wartime tower of the bunch. The concrete lighthouse was finished in 1943 but not lit until May 1944 because of WWII. It went dark in 1967 and was relit on October 15, 2006 after restoration. The Avery Point Lighthouse Society operates it, and sources disagree on its height (55 or 41 feet).
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↓ 72.2 miles, about 1 hr 42 min
6. Black Rock Harbor Light
Greater Bridgeport County, Connecticut · built 1823
Jmob at English Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.5 Now the long haul: 72.2 miles and about 102 minutes to Black Rock Harbor Light in Greater Bridgeport, also called Fayerweather Island Light. This 1823 granite tower replaced an 1808 wooden one lost in the 1821 hurricane. It was deactivated in 1932-33 and restored in 1998. Heights vary by source: 40, 41 or 47 feet.
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↓ 2.7 miles, about 11 min
7. Tongue Point Light
Greater Bridgeport County, Connecticut · built 1895
Russ / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0 Only 11 minutes and 2.7 miles away, Tongue Point Light is a small cast-iron 'Bug Light' from 1895, 31 feet tall and still in service. It first stood 350 feet east of its current spot on the breakwater, and in 1967 local boaters stopped the Coast Guard from removing it. It's listed on the National Register.
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↓ 6.8 miles, about 17 min
8. Stratford Point Light
Greater Bridgeport County, Connecticut · built 1881
Stratford Point Light is 17 minutes (6.8 miles) on. The station dates from 1822, but its original wooden tower was torn down and replaced in 1881 by a 35-foot cast-iron tower, one of the first prefabricated cylindrical lighthouses in the US. It's National Register-listed, shows Fl(2) W 20s and has a 16-nautical-mile range.
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↓ 23.7 miles, about 44 min
9. Five Mile Point Light
South Central Connecticut County, Connecticut · built 1847
Christian David / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 Allow about 44 minutes for the 23.7 miles to Five Mile Point Light in South Central Connecticut. The brownstone tower, dated to 1847 by most sources (one says 1845), was replaced by Southwest Ledge Light in 1877 and has been inactive since. It stands in New Haven's Lighthouse Point Park on Long Island Sound, with sources putting its height at 65, 70 or 80 feet.
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↓ 35.3 miles, about 52 min
10. Lynde Point Light
Lower Connecticut River Valley County, Connecticut · built 1838
Finish at Lynde Point Light in the Lower Connecticut River Valley, about 52 minutes (35.3 miles) from Five Mile Point. The 65-foot brownstone tower was built in 1838 and first lit in 1839, replacing a 35-foot wooden tower from 1803. It's still active under the United States Coast Guard and listed on the National Register, showing a fixed white light.
Every stop on this route links to its own page with coordinates, sourced facts and image licences. The text above was written from those records and checked against them before publishing. More lighthouses: all lighthouses in Connecticut.