Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, Maine

Pemaquid Point Lighthouse is the only place in the United States where you can tour Maine’s first land-based lighthouse opened to the public, get married, spend your honeymoon, and pay for it all using the only U.S. money ever to bear the image of a lighthouse—Maine’s official quarter featuring Pemaquid Point Light. This picturesque light has attracted many, including Edward Hopper, who captured its image in his 1929 watercolor, “Pemaquid Light.” Today, Pemaquid Point is one of New England’s most visited and photographed lighthouses, drawing over 100,000 visitors annually. When Bartholomew Gosnold sailed to Pemaquid in 1602, the area was already a port of call for French, Portuguese, Spanish and English fishermen and the occasional coastal trader. Still, it was bit surprising to see Native Americans in western garb board the Dartsmouth and greeted Gosnold in English.