Passport to the Coast

Yesterday while purging some items in preparation for our move later this summer, (Yes, we have accumulated a lot of junk in our eight years in Morgantown and I don't intend to pay for moving it.) I "found" my lighthouse passport. It was never really lost. I knew it was with our vacation brochures from last year's trip to Hilton Head Island, SC, I just happened to come across it again and it inspired me to write this post.

The United States Lighthouse Society has a Passport book, similar to the National Parks Passport Book, but smaller. The book has four spaces per page for lighthouse visitors to get a stamp of each lighthouse they visit. When the book is filled up, it can be mailed to the United States Lighthouse Society for a special gift. At last check, the gift was a patch that said "I've Seen the Light". THe completed passport is returned to the owner with the special gift.

To get a stamp, the United States Lighthouse Society asks that visitors make a $1.00 donation to the lighthouse before the lighthouse staff will stamp the passport. This helps staff maintain the lighthouses for others to enjoy.

Although the Passport is printed by the United States Lighthouse Society, non-member lighthouses may still stamp the passport. This happened to us at the Dunkirk Lighthouse in Dunkirk, NY. At the time, Dunkirk was a member of the American Lighthouse Foundation, a competing organization. Lighthouse keeper Dick Lawson stamped our passport while explaining the chief differences between the two organizations. He indicated at the time that Dunkirk would not be renewing its membership in either organization because he personally felt the competition between the two hindered the efforts of each organization to carry out its goals.

Anyway, the passport book can be purchased as USLS member lighthouses which have a gift shop. I believe we picked ours up at the Tybee Island Light in Savannah, GA. We have had it for about 5 years and hopefully will have the book filled up soon.