Hereford Inlet Lighthouse and Gardens

The Hereford Inlet Lighthouse is a Victorian style lighthouse located in North Wildwood New Jersey in the village of Anglesea. This beautiful lighthouse was built back in 1874 and is still in operation. The light is totally automated and not manned by a human thanks to the technology that exists today. In my honest opinion, it's one of the prettiest lighthouses in the entire state of New Jersey.

You can enter the lighthouse and pay a small fee to take a tour. This tour gives you the history of the lighthouse and the little video that they show you really helps to take you back in time when these buildings were the guiding light for mariners. After the tour...you can visit their small gift shop for souvenirs, which are reasonably priced. The marker in the garden (shown above) tells you a little bit about each of the lighthouses found in New Jersey.

One of the things I love about this place is that you can walk around the front and back gardens for FREE! They have a gazebo and plenty of benches where you can sit down and relax for awhile. The gardens are really well-kept and beautiful to look at in the spring, summer and fall seasons.

As you walk around the gardens you will come to an area which is the butterfly garden and you will see some flowers and butterfly houses. That area is one of my favorite areas in the entire garden and sits in the back. It's also a nice area for picture taking purposes too! On the day that we visited we saw about 30 butterflies which was really cool to see. It's amazing to see them squeeze their bodies into those thin slots in the butterfly houses.

When visiting you definitely want to take a stroll through the gardens and head out behind the lighthouse. If you go the entire way through the gardens you will end up on the North Wildwood Seawall and get some incredible views of the Hereford Inlet and the Atlantic Ocean like what you see in the photograph above. These views are some of the best on the entire island!!!

There is a memorial stone  that says "In Memory of All Those Lost at Sea" that was donated by the Anglesea Fire Company. Many visitors place seashells nearby and place coins on top of the memorial stone. There are benches right there that you can sit on and take in all of the gorgeous views of the inlet and ocean.

If you would walk down onto the sandy beach that runs behind the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse and turn around and face the lighthouse...this is the view you would see (photo above). The sand dunes and foliage really obstructs the back view of the lighthouse, but I still think it's pretty to see while standing on the beach too!

Throughout the year they host a wide variety of events, fairs and expos. Back in June we had the pleasure of attending the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse Maritime Festival which was held over the weekend. Admission to the festival is FREE and while you're walking around...you can shop from the vendors who are participating in the festival. We saw people & businesses selling a wide variety of crafts, artwork, jewelry, plants, gift items, yard & garden art, handbags, clothing and all kinds of other things. They also have food & beverage vendors at the event too!

The Hereford Inlet Lighthouse is open year-round, although their hours of operation will depend on the season. Throughout the year they host educational events, festivals and fairs which are really cool to attend too! You can learn more by visiting the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse site online. If you're going to be visiting the south Jersey Shore area...we highly recommend that you pay a visit to this beautiful place in North Wildwood.