Lighthouse Challenge of NJ 2026: 16 Sites, One Weekend (Oct 17 and 18)

Once a year, every lighthouse site on the New Jersey coast opens on the same weekend and dares you to see them all. The Lighthouse Challenge of New Jersey is Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18, 2026: 11 lighthouse sites, 4 lifesaving stations and 1 museum, from Sandy Hook down the Atlantic coast to Cape May, then up the Delaware Bay and River to Paulsboro. It is 16 sites but only 15 stops, because one stop covers two lighthouse sites.

This year the Challenge celebrates the country's 250th birthday and honors the Sandy Hook Lighthouse, the only New Jersey lighthouse that was standing during the Revolution. Everything below was read on the organizer's own site, lighthousechallengenj.com, on October 12. Check it before you go.

How the Challenge works

When: Saturday, Oct 17 and Sunday, Oct 18. Every site is open 8 am to 6 pm both days.
Night climbs: Saturday only, 6 to 8 pm, at Navesink Twin Lights, Tucker's Island Light at Tuckerton Seaport and Tinicum Rear Range Light. The organizer says to arrive by 7:30 at the latest if you want to climb.
Cost: $10 to register. There is no pre-registration: you sign up at whichever site you start at, and you can start and finish anywhere.
The souvenir: this year it is a book of stories from the American Revolution that happened at or near the Challenge sites. You pick up a sticker at each stop to fill in its page.
Climbing: not required, you only have to visit each site. Some lighthouses charge to climb, and kids 11 and under climb free with an adult.
Finishing: at your last stop, tell the volunteers you have done them all. Finishers get a completion award and go into a drawing for three prize baskets, the top one worth more than $500.

The 16 sites, north to south

Every stop is on the NJ Lighthouse Map, which is the easiest way to see how far apart they really are before you plan a route.

Sandy Hook and the Highlands

Sandy Hook Lighthouse - first lit in 1764, the oldest standing and oldest operating lighthouse in the United States, and this year's guest of honor.
Spermaceti Cove Life Saving Station - also on Sandy Hook, on Hartshorne Drive between Lots D and E. One of the four lifesaving stations on the Challenge.
Navesink Twin Lights - 200 feet above sea level in Highlands, looking out over Sandy Hook, the bay and the New York skyline. The current lighthouse dates to 1862. Night climb site.

Monmouth and Ocean shore

Sea Girt Lighthouse - at Ocean Avenue and Beacon Boulevard in Sea Girt.
Squan Beach Lifesaving Station - at Ocean and 2nd Avenue in Manasquan, a few minutes from Sea Girt.

Long Beach Island and Tuckerton

Barnegat Lighthouse - relit on January 1, 2009, 150 years to the day after it was first lit in 1859.
Barnegat Light Museum - in Barnegat Light's old one-room schoolhouse (1903 to 1951), home of the lighthouse's original first-order Fresnel lens, taken out of the tower in 1927 and returned to the town in 1957. The only museum on the Challenge.
Tucker's Island Light - at Tuckerton Seaport. Night climb site.

Atlantic City to Cape May

Absecon Lighthouse - New Jersey's tallest lighthouse, 228 steps up to the original first-order Fresnel lens, first lit in 1857.
U.S. Life Saving Station 30 - at 801 Fourth Street in Ocean City.
Tatham Lifesaving Station - at 117th Street and Second Avenue in Stone Harbor.
Cape May Lighthouse - in Cape May Point State Park, the third documented lighthouse at New Jersey's southern tip.

Delaware Bay and River

East Point Lighthouse and the Delaware Bay Lights - the one stop that counts as two sites. East Point, built in 1849, is the second oldest lighthouse standing in New Jersey and the last one left on the Jersey side of the bay. The Delaware Bay Lights are the eight lighthouses out in the bay that you can only reach by boat, shown as a picture tour. Note: the organizer lists this stop at Leechester Hall, 548 Main Street in Leesburg, so check the address before you drive.
Finns Point Rear Range Light - a 115-foot black iron tower from 1877, in Supawna Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Pennsville.
Tinicum Rear Range Light - in Paulsboro, the far end of the route. Night climb site.

Planning a route

Doing all 15 stops in a weekend is a real drive: Sandy Hook to Paulsboro the long way around is most of the state. One way to split it: the northern loop (Sandy Hook, Twin Lights, Sea Girt, Manasquan, then down to LBI and Tuckerton) is an easy Saturday, and a Saturday finish at Twin Lights or Tuckerton gets you a night climb. The southern loop (Atlantic City, Ocean City, Stone Harbor, Cape May, then across to the Delaware Bay sites) fills a Sunday. The organizer's Eat and Stay page lists places to sleep along the way if you want to do it all.

Going with kids? The organizer's Family Fun page has printable coloring pages for every site and a parent's tips that actually work: keep a running count of the steps you climb, pack trunk snacks for between stops, and let the kids navigate.

Make a day of it

Several stops sit inside bigger places worth the time on their own: Sandy Hook's beaches and Fort Hancock, Cape May Point State Park around the Cape May Lighthouse, and Tuckerton Seaport & Baymen's Museum around Tucker's Island Light. Check each site's own page for climbing fees and any changes before you go.