Fall Lighthouses

Mike and I tried to get photos of lighthouses with some fall foliage but none of them were exactly perfect.  Maybe this fall we will be able to get better photos.  During the fall we saw a lot of lighthouses, including a lot of the lighthouses in previous posts, and one day we wanted to take a trip to the Buffalo area to see three (well technically more than three) lighthouses.

I'm going to share with you two of the lighthouses that we saw on this fall day in October, another post will be dedicated solely to the third lighthouse.

Our day started out pretty early because if I remember correctly Mike had to work that night at his previous part-time job, so we had a time limit on how long we could stay in Buffalo.  The first lighthouse that we saw is actually closer to Niagara Falls than Buffalo and is located in Old Fort Niagara State Historic Site.

This is Fort Niagara Lighthouse and the trees behind it would have made for amazing fall colors but they were just starting to change.

The Lighthouse Friend's page (linked above) about Fort Niagara Lighthouse has a lot of historical information about how the ownership of the fort has changed a few times over the years.  In addition, there have been numerous other lighthouses in the area prior to the current structure, one time a tornado even caused damage to some of the buildings associated with a previous lighthouse.

The current lighthouse was erected in 1871.  It was originally 50 feet tall, but has since grown 11 feet, and is made of limestone.

Mike's infamous shot

Old Fort Niagara has numerous events throughout the year and at the time that we went there was a sign on the lighthouse advertising the "haunted fortress".  I don't think that the lighthouse was part of the tour, though.

Our day wasn't over and we headed off to the second lighthouse, the Grand Island Front Range.  The lighthouse is located on the Buffalo Launch Club's grounds and even though we aren't members there we were able to snap a few shots of this lighthouse. 

This lighthouse was not originally located on Grand Island nor called Grand Island Front Range.  In 1917 this wooden lighthouse was established as the Niagara Range Rear Lighthouse.  In 1931 it was moved to its present location on Grand Island.  

A few years ago the lighthouse was restored and painted to match the Launch Club's colors.  While this is not one of the most remarkable lighthouses that we have visited, it does have its own charm.  It was worth making the trip to see this lighthouse!

Coming up will be a post about the third and final (sort of) lighthouse of this day trip.