I’ve always loved lighthouses. The simplicity of their design and singular purpose--protection--is very compelling to me. The development of Global Positioning Systems (GPS), electronic buoys and other sea-based technologies have largely replaced the need for our old lighthouses. Thankfully, our Coast Guard maintains all active lighthouses in the U.S.

If you want to visit a lighthouse you’ve hit the jackpot! Maine has 66 lighthouses. All of our lighthouses are old and have a rich history. Thankfully, you can easily visit most of our lighthouses.

I like lighthouses so much that, while I was deployed to Iraq in 2007, I had arranged permission to propose to my then girlfriend, now wife of 13 years, Sandie.

It was time to visit another one and I had the perfect one picked out--Woods Island Lighthouse. You have to take a boat to the lighthouse and tours are only available several 2-3 times per day between July and August. Reservations fill up quickly.

The tour has us meeting at Biddeford Pool. You’re asked to arrive a half hour early to get checked in. We met at the front Between the Tides gift shop, which is at the opening of Vines Landing boat ramp and recreational area.

Dawn and Ginna would be our tour guides today and Captain Tom would take us to and from the island. Several people who reserved spots for the tour never showed up. Dawn asked people walking the street if they wanted to take a free tour but there were no takers. With attendance all taken care of we loaded up the boat!

You get on the boat by walking up a ramp at the front of the boat that can be raised and lowered electronically. In order to make the loading and unloading process work, all of us have to crowd into the very back of the boat as the boat actually grounds itself on shore before the ramp is lowered. As a result, having everyone in the back allows the boat to more easily push off of the shore and back into the sea.

Truth be told, I was a little worried about the boat ride to and from the lighthouse. In the past I’ve had some pretty bad sea sickness when on a boat. Either I wasn’t as prone to motion sickness --except for amusement park rides, which are not amusing to me!--or it was simply due to the fact that the ocean was nearly as flat as glass.

We arrived at Woods Island ten minutes later. We all walked single file across an extremely long wooden walkway. I’m guessing that we walked a 1/2 mile before the lighthouse came into view.

Once we arrived our tour guide took out a binder full of historical photos about the lighthouse and its history, giving us a show and tell for a few minutes.

Half the group got a tour of the keepers house and the other half went to the lighthouse. I was very impressed with the two-story Keeper’s house! It was small but very comfortable looking. A small family would be very comfortable living in the house today. We were told that the last Keeper left the house in the early 80’s.

The first floor has a small kitchen, sink and cupboard area, dining room and a study.

The upstairs had the bathroom and two bedrooms.

Unlike every other tour of historic houses I’d been on, this tour gave us plenty of time to explore the rooms, which I very much appreciated. The furniture wasn’t the originals but were still old enough to have been used during the same timeframe.

My group then moved to the lighthouse portion of the tour. The lighthouse is connected to the house via an attached, fully enclosed breezeway. One by one we climbed the stairs to the top of the lighthouse and cautioned that only one person at a time could walk on the last few feet of the cast iron steps at the top.

We all got to walk around the outside of the lighthouse. As you can imagine, the view was amazing! Once again, we got to spend a good bit of time up there without being rushed. Everyone got to take as many pictures as they wanted to.

When both groups had finished touring the Keeper’s house and the lighthouse, we got to wander around the grounds a bit more. The house has a very nice covered porch. I could just imagine myself sitting on one of the several rocking chairs and thinking of how lucky I was to live on this island to tend the lighthouse.

We had at least 15-20 minutes of time to wander around before we had to head back. When we walked the 1/2 mile back Captain Bob was just arriving with a new tour group. Two kayakers from Biddeford Pool arrived at the same time and dragged their kayaks onto the shore and joined the new group.

Ten minutes later we were back to our starting point. Wow--what a great little adventure! This was the second lighthouse I’ve been in but the first Keeper’s house. The combination of seeing both is much better than just one of them alone.

I was also very impressed with how this tour sticks to its schedule. They leave and return at the times they advertise. I had a great time and highly recommend that anyone take this tour before the summer ends.