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Lighthouses on the National Register: counts by state and who owns them now

John HarrisonUpdated October 2026

As of the National Park Service list of National Register properties dated May 22, 2026, 506 listings are lighthouses, light stations, range lights or pier and breakwater lights, spread over 31 states and four territories. Michigan has the most (79), then Maine (55), New York (46) and Massachusetts (44). Twelve are National Historic Landmarks, and three, Boston Light, Cape Henry and Sandy Hook, have been on the Register since its first day in 1966.

These figures are current as of October 2026. The site is independent of the National Park Service, which keeps the Register.

How we counted

The count was made from the NPS spreadsheet of listed properties. We kept rows whose Property Name or Other Names contained “lighthouse”, “light house”, “light station”, “lightship”, or the word “light” or “lights” as a separate word, then removed the false matches by rule and by hand:

• Utility names: anything with “Light and Power”, “Light & Water”, “Gas Light”, “Electric Light”, “Railway, Light” and the like, which removed 53 power plants and substations.
• Militia and lodge names: “Light Guard”, “Light Infantry”, “Northern Lights Masonic Lodge”.
• Other uses of the word: Light Hall, Our Lady of Light churches, “Lighthouse” churches and ministries, the Lighthouse Inn in Connecticut, the Baha’i “Temple of Light”, a 1961 house built for a family named Light, a farmhouse whose alternate name is its owners’ “Light House”, and a Guam “Light Model Tank”.
• Historic districts whose only link to a light is a “See Also” cross-reference to a separately listed light station (Havre de Grace, Navesink and Ocracoke), which would otherwise double-count.
• Vessels: two lightship wrecks and the lighthouse tender LILAC are real Lighthouse Service property but not lighthouses, so they are reported separately and not in the 506.

What remains is land-based light stations and their towers, keeper’s houses, range-light pairs and harbor lights. It includes six rows that are boundary changes or additional documentation for stations already listed, because NPS counts them as separate entries. It also misses any lighthouse listed under a name with no “light” in it, so, as with any name-based count, treat it as a floor.

Listed lighthouses by state

A few patterns stand out. The Great Lakes dominate: Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, New York, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania together hold 183 listings, more than a third of the total. Listing came in waves tied to state survey projects; 35 of Massachusetts’s 44 were listed in 1987 alone, and 201 of the 506 nationwide date from the 1980s. The Register classes 275 of them as structures, 138 as buildings (usually where the keeper’s dwelling is the main resource), 85 as districts and 8 as sites. The 12 Landmarks are Boston Light, Cape Henry, Sandy Hook, Montauk Point, Navesink, Cape Hatteras, Split Rock, Grosse Point, Thomas Point Shoal, Ponce de Leon Inlet, Block Island Southeast and the Cape Ann Twin Lights.

Property pages for the ten covered states

Pages exist so far for New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, Ohio, Texas, California, Illinois, Georgia and North Carolina. Boundary-change rows and one New York station whose nomination is not yet loaded are left out of the lists below.

Massachusetts (44 pages): Annisquam Harbor Light Station (Gloucester); Baker’s Island Light Station (Salem); Bird Island Light (Marion); Borden Flats Light Station (Fall River); Boston Light (Boston); Brant Point Light Station (Nantucket); Butler Flats Light Station (New Bedford); Cape Poge Light (Edgartown); Chatham Light Station (Chatham); Cleveland Ledge Light Station (Bourne); Derby Wharf Light Station (Salem); Duxbury Pier Light (Plymouth); East Chop Light (Oak Bluffs); Eastern Point Light Station (Gloucester); Edgartown Harbor Light (Edgartown); Gay Head Light (Aquinnah); Government Island Historic District (Cohasset); Graves Light Station (Hull); Highland Light Station (Truro); Hospital Point Light Station (Beverly); Long Island Head Light (Boston); Long Point Light Station (Provincetown); Marblehead Light (Marblehead); Minot’s Ledge Light (Scituate); Monomoy Point Lighthouse (Chatham); Nauset Beach Light (Eastham); Ned Point Light (Mattpoisett); Newburyport Harbor Front Range Light (Newburyport); Newburyport Harbor Light (Newburyport); Newburyport Harbor Rear Range Light (Newburyport); Nobska Point Light Station (Falmouth); Palmer Island Light Station (New Bedford); Plymouth Light Station (Duxbury); Race Point Light Station (Provincetown); Sankaty Head Light (Nantucket); Scituate Light (Scituate); Straightsmouth Island Light (Rockport); Tarpaulin Cove Light (Gosnold); Ten Pound Island Light (Gloucester); Three Sisters of Nauset (Twin Lights) (Eastham); Twin Lights Historic District-Cape Ann Light Station (Rockport); West Chop Light Station (Tisbury); Wing’s Neck Light (Bourne); Wood End Light Lookout Station (Provincetown)

New York (44 pages): Barcelona Lighthouse and Keeper’s Cottage (Westfield); Buffalo Harbor South Entrance Light (Lackawanna); Buffalo Main Light (Buffalo); Buffalo North Breakwater South End Light (Buffalo); Cedar Island Lighthouse (Sag Harbor); Crossover Island Light Station (St. Lawrence); Dunkirk Light (Dunkirk); East Charity Shoal Light (Cape Vincent); Eatons Neck Light (Huntington); Esopus Meadows Lighthouse (Esopus); Execution Rocks Light Station (Port Washington); Fire Island Light Station (Bay Shore); Fort Niagara Light (Youngstown); Galloo Island Light (Sackets Harbor); Genesee Lighthouse (Rochester); Horton Point Lighthouse (Southold); Hudson/Athens Lighthouse (Hudson); Jeffrey’s Hook Lighthouse (New York); Kingston/Rondout 2 Lighthouse (Kingston); Latimer Reef Light Station (Fisher’s Island); Lighthouse (New York); Lloyd Harbor Lighthouse (Lloyd Harbor); Montauk Point Lighthouse (Montauk); New Dorp Light (New York); Ogdensburg Harbor Lighthouse (Ogdensburg); Orchard Shoal Light Station, Old (Staten Island); Orient Point Light Station (Orient); Oswego West Pierhead Lighthouse (Oswego); Plum Island Light Station (Orient Point); Point Gratiot Lighthouse Complex (Dunkirk); Race Rock Light Station (Fishers Island); Rock Island Light Station (Fishers Landing); Saugerties Lighthouse (Saugerties); Selkirk Lighthouse (Pulaski); Sodus Point Lighthouse (Sodus Point); South Buffalo North Side Light (Buffalo); Staten Island Light (Richmond); Stepping Stones Light Station (Kings Point); Stony Point Lighthouse (Stony Point); Tarrytown Lighthouse (Sleepy Hollow); Thirty Mile Point Light (Somerset); Tibbetts Point Light (Cape Vincent); Valcour Island Lighthouse (Peru); West Bank Light Station (New Dorp Beach)

California (21 pages): Cresent City Lighthouse (Crescent City); East Brother Island Light Station (Richmond); Los Angeles Harbor Light Station (Los Angeles); Old Point Loma Lighthouse (San Diego); Piedras Blancas Light Station (San Simeon); Pigeon Point Lighthouse (Pescadero); Point Arena Light Station (Point Arena); Point Bonita Light Station (Sausalito); Point Cabrillo Light Station (Caspar); Point Conception Light Station (Santa Barbara); Point Fermin Lighthouse (San Pedro); Point Montara Light Station (Montara); Point Pinos Lighthouse (Pacific Grove); Point Reyes Light Station (Point Reyes); Point Sur Light Station (Big Sur); Point Vicente Light (Rancho Palos Verdes); Punta Gorda Light Station (Petrolia); San Luis Obispo Light Station (Avila Beach); St. George Reef Light Station (Crescent City); Trinidad Head Light Station (Trinidad); Yerba Buena Island Lighthouse (San Francisco)

Ohio (17 pages): Ashtabula Harbor Light (Ashtabula); Cedar Point Light (Sandusky); Cleveland East Pierhead Light (Cleveland); Cleveland West Pierhead Light (Cleveland); Conneaut Harbor West Breakwater Light (Conneaut); Conneaut Light Station Keeper’s Dwelling (Conneaut); Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Light (Fairport Harbor); Fairport Marine Museum (Fairport Harbor); Grand Lake St. Marys Lighthouse (Celinda); Green Island Light (Put-in-Bay); Huron Harbor Light (Huron); Lorain Lighthouse (Lorain); Marblehead Lighthouse (Marblehead); South Bass Island Light (South Bass Island); Toledo Harbor Light (Toledo); U.S. Coast Guard Building (Sandusky); West Sister Island Light (Toledo)

Virginia (11 pages): Assateague Lighthouse (Chincoteague); CApe Henry (Second Tower) Light Station (Fort Story); Cape Charles Light Station (Kiptopke); Cape Henry Lighthouse (Virginia Beach (Independent City)); Jones Point Lighthouse and District of Columbia South Cornerstone (Alexandria (Independent City)); New Point Comfort Lighthouse (New Point); Newport News Middle Ground Light Station (Newport News (Independent City)); Old Point Comfort Lighthouse (Hampton (Independent City)); Smith Point Light Station (Smith Point); Thimble Shoal Light Station (Hampton City (Independent City)); Wolf Trap Light Station (Poquoson East)

North Carolina (8 pages): Bald Head Island Lighthouse (Southport); Bodie Island Light Station (Nags Head); Cape Fear Lighthouse Complex (Kure Beach); Cape Hatteras Light Station (Buxton); Cape Lookout Light Station (Core Banks); Currituck Beach Lighthouse (Corolla); Oak Island Lighthouse (Caswell Beach); Ocracoke Light Station (Ocracoke)

Texas (4 pages): Aransas Pass Light Station (Port Aransas); Matagorda Island Lighthouse (Port O’Connor); Point Bolivar Lighthouse (Port Bolivar); Point Isabel Lighthouse (Port Isabel)

Georgia (3 pages): Little Cumberland Island Lighthouse (St. Marys); Sapelo Island Lighthouse (Sapelo Island); St. Simons Lighthouse and Lighthouse Keepers’ Building (St. Simons Island)

Illinois (2 pages): Chicago Harbor Lighthouse (Chicago); Grosse Point Light Station (Evanston)

Pennsylvania (2 pages): Erie Land Lighthouse (Erie); Presque Isle Light (Erie)

The National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000

Most listed lighthouses were built and run by the federal Lighthouse Service and then the Coast Guard. As automation made keepers and dwellings surplus, Congress passed the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, signed October 24, 2000 and now codified at 54 U.S.C. 305101 to 305106. The National Park Service, the General Services Administration (GSA), the Coast Guard and the State Historic Preservation Officers run it jointly. The mechanics, from the statute and the NPS and GSA program pages:

1. Only historic stations qualify. A light station can be conveyed under the Act only if it is listed in, or determined eligible for, the National Register, and only after its federal owner declares it excess. A station that is not Register-eligible goes through ordinary GSA disposal instead.
2. Notice of Availability. GSA publishes a Notice of Availability for the station, and NPS takes applications from would-be stewards.
3. Six kinds of applicant. Federal agencies, agencies of the state where the station sits, the local government, nonprofit corporations, educational agencies and community development organizations. Applicants must show they can afford the upkeep and must agree to make the station available to the public for education, park, recreation, cultural or historic-preservation purposes.
4. NPS picks, GSA conveys. Under 54 U.S.C. 305103 the Secretary of the Interior reviews the applications, consults the SHPO, and forwards one approved applicant to GSA, which transfers the station by quitclaim deed at no cost.
5. Covenants run with the land. Under 54 U.S.C. 305104 the new owner must maintain the station at its own expense under the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, keep it open to the public at reasonable times, and may not sell or encumber it, run commercial activity there, or dispose of associated artifacts such as a lens or lantern, without the Secretary’s approval. Any working aid to navigation stays federal property, the Coast Guard keeps the right to service it and to enter the site, and the station reverts to the United States if the covenants are broken.
6. Auction if no steward. If no eligible applicant is approved, GSA sells the lighthouse at public online auction; the proceeds go to the Coast Guard, which GSA says reinvests them in its aids-to-navigation mission.

GSA’s July 2025 release put the running total at more than 151 lighthouses out of federal hands since the Act passed: 81 transferred at no cost to governments and nonprofits and 70 sold at auction for about $10 million combined. Its 2023 release said individual sale prices had ranged from $10,000 to $933,888, and warned that most lighthouses have no utilities and that a full restoration can cost far more than the purchase price. That year GSA offered ten at once: six by notice of availability (including Nobska and Plymouth/Gurnet in Massachusetts and Erie Harbor North Pier in Pennsylvania) and four at auction (including Stratford Shoal in New York and Cleveland Harbor West Pierhead in Ohio). In 2025 the Sheboygan Breakwater Light in Wisconsin and the Keweenaw Waterway Upper Entrance Light in Michigan were on offer.

A buyer at auction gets the tower but not an unrestricted property. Register listing itself imposes no federal controls on a private owner (see how the National Register works), but an NHLPA deed does, and local and state rules can apply on top. Anyone considering a purchase should read the deed covenants and talk to the SHPO before bidding; renovating or demolishing a listed building explains where the real constraints come from.

Visiting a listed lighthouse

Access is set by whoever owns or leases the station now, and that varies tower by tower:

• Active Coast Guard stations may have no public access beyond a view from the road or water, even when listed.
• Lights inside national, state and local parks are usually the easiest to reach, but tower climbs are often seasonal, ticketed or limited, and the park’s own page is the only reliable source for current rules.
• Nonprofit stewards who took stations under the NHLPA are bound to public access at reasonable times, which in practice often means weekend or summer hours and volunteer-run tours.
• Private owners of auctioned lights owe nothing to visitors, and offshore towers are generally reachable only by boat and with the owner’s permission.

Hours, climbing rules and fees change, so check the operator’s own website or the park unit before travelling, and use the property page here to confirm what the listing actually covers (sometimes only the tower, sometimes the whole station with its outbuildings). The address lookup will tell you whether a shoreline address falls within a listed station.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Researched from the sources above and drafted with AI assistance; published under the editor's name, corrections welcome. See the editorial policy.