After hiking Beech Hill, we took a ride down the Coast and visited the Owl's Head Light which is a Lighthouse located at the Owl's Head Light State Park. The lighthouse has a great history which dates back to the early 1800's. I won't go into the history here, but this site (NewEnglandLighthouses.net) has a great and thorough write-up on it. When reading about the history, pay attention to the story regarding the lighthouse dog, Spot, which is pretty amazing! Today, the lighthouse is still active and run by the US Coast Guard. On select days in the summer, they have tours where folks can go up into the light and learn about how it works.
The Owl's Head Light State Park has a large parking area and is free of charge. There's a gravel road that is probably a 1/4 mile long that runs along the coast and leads up to the lighthouse location. There are a few paths that lead down to the coast line (it's a steep slope down) if visitors wish to visit the rocky beaches. There is also a path to a swimming area which we did not explore.
Once up at the Owl's Head Light, there were a few buildings around, one of which contained a gift shop and a small museum. There was a long ramp and staircase that led up to the lighthouse which a lot people were waiting on as it was a day that they were conducting tours. Unfortunately, due to the long line (and a cranky two year old) we cut our visit short at the gift shop and did not make it in the lighthouse.
Although not really a hike, this was still a cool place to visit and one I wanted to document here. Pictures are below!
This post first appeared on Live Free And Hike: A NH Day Hiker's, please read the originial post: here
