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2021 Lighthouse Challenge►

Squan Beach Life Saving Station #9 was a stop for us on Day 2 during the Lighthouse Challenge of New Jersey. Every October the NJ Lighthouse Society runs the challenge in order to raise funds for the state’s historic lighthouses and maritime sites. In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event was mostly virtual. In 2021, it was back on. My friend and I decided to spend the full weekend, stopping at every site on the list and collecting the souvenir piece. In previous years, I’d only finished sections of the course.

Patty and I had lived through some tough times in 2021 and were ready for the brief respite afforded by Lighthouse Challenge weekend. I would also be reporting on our odyssey for my week-long takeover of the Jersey Collective. After visiting the Barnegat Lighthouse, we headed to the Squan Beach Life Saving Station. The Lighthouse Society added this stop to the challenge in 2019 and this was my first time visiting.

Squan dates back to 1902 when it replaced an older life saving station from 1873. It housed volunteers who rescued shipwreck victims near Mannasquan. The Coast Guard took it over in the 1930s and then sold it to the borough in 2000. Today it is open to the public as a museum.

We perused the exhibits and climbed into the spacious tower. We listened to volunteers talk about what it was like to live there as a rescuer. Someone with sharp vision spotted a school of fish jumping just off shore.

Lighthouse Challenge posts►

• Tinicum Light
• Finn’s Point
• Fort Mott
• East Point Light
• Cape May Point
• Cape May NWR
• Tatham
• Ocean City
• Absecon Lighthouse
• Tuckerton Seaport
• Barnegat Museum
• Barnegat Lighthouse
• Squan
• Sea Girt Lighthouse
• Navesink Twin Lights
• Sandy Hook Lighthouse

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Location: 124 Ocean Ave, Manasquan, NJ 08736
Designation: National Register of Historic Places
Date designated/established: March 5, 2008
Date of my visit: October 17, 2021