Turkey Point, Maryland - Day Trip

Never say “no” to adventures. Always say “yes”, otherwise you’ll lead a very dull life. – Ian Fleming 

July 22, 2023

We had an appointment down in Maryland and thought we would combine that along with a brief visit to one of our favorite places: Turkey Point in Maryland.

This prompts me to provide a brief explanation. For a span of more than 15 years, we were highly involved in historical preservation/restoration of lighthouses and their written history. We belonged to several lighthouse organizations, both here in the U.S. and in the United Kingdom. During that time we traveled extensively and almost exclusively to areas where there were lighthouses. To date, we have visited 275 different lighthouses in the United States, and a total of 45 within the countries of Canada, England, Wales and Scotland. 

Then Covid reared its ugly head and along with everything else, lighthouses closed. We had to find something else to do with our time, so we started spending a lot more of it outdoors in nature. We started finding a lot of hidden treasures near our home that allowed us to go hiking, biking and kayaking, and when the campgrounds reopened, we quickly returned to camping, which we have enjoyed doing for about 40 years. 

Although neither of us ever contracted Covid, the virus did us a big favor. It started us rethinking our priorities and we discovered that we find much more enjoyment just being out in nature at this stage of our lives. As a result, we now only belong to two lighthouse organizations and no longer plan our travels around lighthouses. However, we do still visit them if there are any close to wherever we happen to be exploring.

Having said all of that, Turkey Point and its lighthouse is one of our favorites. When we started camping way back when, our favorite campground was in the Elk Neck State Park in Maryland. At the time we had a boat and we would tent camp in the campground and launch our boat from the park's marina. Although we happily recommend this state park and campground to one and all, we won't provide a description here because we didn't visit the campground on this day trip, and it's been quite a while since we camped there. Instead, we drove out to Turkey Point to hike out to the lighthouse.

Turkey Point Lighthouse was built in 1833 on top of a 100-foot bluff at the top of the Chesapeake Bay. The first time we set eyes on the 35-foot-tall lighthouse was in 1984 when we hiked a nearly mile long trail out to the bluff. We had no idea there was a lighthouse there until we saw it looming up out of the trees and brush surrounding it as we made our way out to the bluff. There was a fence blocking access to the lighthouse and all you could see was the top of it. 

Turkey Point Lighthouse, 1984

Fast forward to the year 2000 when the light in the tower was deactivated by the U.S. Coast Guard. In 2002 we happily participated in the re-lighting ceremony of Turkey Point Lighthouse as a private aid to navigation. By this time the area surrounding the lighthouse had been cleared to form a lovely little park. Over the years we have visited this lighthouse countless times and volunteered there several times during the Maryland Lighthouse Challenge. We still try to make a trip down to Maryland to visit our favorite little lighthouse at least once a year. The lighthouse is opened to the public most weekends during the summer and visitors can climb the stairs to the top.

So, when we made our appointment to conduct some business down in Maryland, we decided to make a day of it and hike out to Turkey Point. The trail is only about a mile long and follows a dirt lane out to the lighthouse. Most of the trail is tree-shaded with two meadows to pass through on the way. Turkey Point is also known among birders as a great place to view hawks and eagles. We've had the pleasure of seeing them fly overhead several times during our visits. There is also a large field of wildflowers with paths through it where you can observe other birds and butterflies.

Turkey Point Lighthouse & its new fog bell house.

After hiking out to the point and returning to our car, we drove into North East, where we stopped to have dinner at Woody's Crabhouse. If you enjoy seafood, you can't go wrong at Woody's! If we'd had more time we would have explored some of the quaint shops in "downtown" North East. It's a lovely little town. We highly recommend Elk Neck State Park, Turkey Point Lighthouse and the town of North East for your next adventure!

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