Barnegat Lighthouse has been a family beacon for as long as I can remember. When I was 5, crossing the bridge onto Long Beach Island for a week’s vacation was to enter a world of wonder.

My mom and dad rented a house near the 28th Street beach in Ship Bottom. My older brother, Jack, and I would stretch out one of my dad’s olive-drab Army blankets and spend the day digging sand castles and playing in the surf.