The historic Scituate Lighthouse is near a small beach and a rock jetty that’s fun to explore.
Finally, it was the first nice day we had had in a while. And with us, a nice day plus time off equals exploring. We decided to explore Massachusetts’ South Shore, and our first stop was the Scituate Lighthouse, which dates back to the 19th century.
Finding the lighthouse was a bit…interesting. Our handy-dandy GPS got us there fine, but we had to go through a really built-up beach community. Houses on this small peninsula here are really close together, and to be honest, I was starting to feel a bit boxed-in. But I felt better once we got to the small, free parking lot.
Before I had even put the car in park, Benny jumped out of the car and climbed a bell in the front yard of the lighthouse. I tell you, this bear is a maniac after suffering from cabin fever.
Just to be clear: We DO NOT condone climbing this bell. The only reason Benny was able to get away with it is because people seem to be more lenient towards stuffed animals. If I had climbed it, I probably would have been arrested.
Fate punished Benny for his impulsive climbing, and he quickly fell off. I had to make a quick decision: Do I catch Benny, or catch his fall on photo? I’m sure you know what I decided to to.
Benny was a little sore at me for not catching him, but, oh well. In case you were wondering what the bell actually looks like, sans* Benny on top, here it is:
*Why say “without” when you can be fancy and say, “sans” instead?
We found out later that this bell was created by a company formed by Paul Revere, which made Benny even more proud that he had climbed it. Again, do not climb the bell, unless you’re a small, stuffed animal and you know you can get away with it.
After the bell incident, we walked around the Scituate Lighthouse where we read informative plaques about its history. The Scituate Historical Society does a great job explaining how and why the lighthouse came to be.
There is also a monument to the unfortunate Italian freighter Etrusco that crashed here during a Nor’easter back in 1956. Thankfully, there were no casualties. It’s a sobering reminder that we need to take our New England storms and Mother Nature seriously.
The Jetty and the View
History buffs rejoice! Out in the bay near the Scituate Lighthouse is the location where, back in 1813, the battle cry of the U.S. Navy was born. When it comes to history, our area of the country never disappoints.
Benny wanted to take a picture in front of the lighthouse, but a couple of people had set up camp right at the perfect picture-taking spot, and they were playing loud country music. I figured they weren’t exactly the type that I wanted to ask to move so that my wife could take a picture of her husband and his bear, so we continued to walk down the rock jetty.
After a few yards, we were able to stop and take a somewhat clandestine photo.
After our photo op, we continued to walk on the jetty. It was a bit treacherous, but we were determined to reach the end. You see, there was some sort of structure there, and, us being us, we wanted to check it out. We carefully stepped and hopped along the rocks, careful to not trip and fall.
After a short yet harrowing walk to the other end of the jetty, we arrived at the structure. Benny was really excited; he wanted to go up the ladder.
As did I.
However, my wife looked at the ladder and noticed an old, worn sign that said, “Danger.” She assumed that the sign had originally said something like, “Danger! Don’t Climb!”
Long story short, she forbade us from climbing up….something about it not looking stable, that we weren’t supposed to be on it anyway, and that we could get hurt. Benny tried to reason with her, but it was a losing battle.
“Just because there’s a Danger sign, and the ladder looks like it could break under our weight, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try!” he exclaimed. Apparently, he thought that just because he got away with climbing the bell earlier that he’d be able to climb this too.
I looked at him. “Thanks, Benny, you just made her case for her.”
I was going to try my hand at convincing her, but she said something about getting ice cream, I got excited, and I completely forgot about climbing up until….just now as I’m writing this.
Wow. How well she knows me and how to keep me out of trouble!
All joking and narrative aside, don’t climb up, and I don’t condone climbing up. Keyboard warriors who are about to tell me to not climb it, stay calm!
We stayed at the structure for a few minutes to take in the breeze and sunshine before we headed back to get, you guessed it, ice cream.
If you like lighthouses, check out The Nobska Lighthouse in Falmouth and the various lighthouses on the Cape Cod National Seashore.
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