Holiday Open House at Nobska Lighthouse
This content may contain affiliate links. For more information, see our disclaimer.
Last year, I saw an advertisement for a Holiday Open House at Nobska Lighthouse in Massachusetts. It was a on a weeknight, but I was determined to make it there after work. When I got out of work, I grabbed my sister and made the two and a half hour drive to Falmouth, Massachusetts. It was a long drive, but so worth it.
About The Lighthouse
Nobska Point Lighthouse was established in 1829. The first lighthouse was a wooden lighthouse and there was also a keeper’s house on the property. In 1876, the wooden lighthouse was replaced by the current 40-foot-tall cast-iron tower and a new keeper’s house.
In 1972, the last civilian lighthouse keeper retired and was replaced by active-duty U.S. Coast Guard personnel. In 1985, the lighthouse was automated and the Keeper’s House became the home of the Commander of the U.S. Coast Guard South East Sector New England.
In 2014, the U.S Coast Guard announced its decision to deaccession Nobska Light Station. After this, the community wanted to preserve the lighthouse and make it accessible to the public. In 2017, the Town of Falmouth and the Friends of Nobska Light were awarded responsibility for Nobska Light Station.
The deed to the property was not granted until this year (2025). The application was put in to transfer the deed to the Friends of Nobska Light in 2023, but it took two years for the transfer to actually happen.
I’m very happy that this historic lighthouse is accessible to the public and that it will be taken care of and preserved. Many historic lighthouses are put up for private sale and it is very difficult financially for groups like Friends of Nobska Light to get them when the Coast Guard no longer wants them.
Getting There
Coming from southeastern Connecticut, I took I-95. This unfortunately meant that I had to drive through Providence, Rhode Island during rush hour. I had to sit in traffic and it made the drive a bit of a drag. Thankfully once I got on to I-195, the traffic ended.
If you’ve ever been to Nobska Point Lighthouse, you’ll know that there isn’t a ton of parking there. For this reason, they have you park in Woods Hole Village and then take a trolley to the lighthouse. This in itself was QUITE the experience. It was so full, my sister and I had to stand. She was not tall enough to hold the railing so I held on tight to her. It wasn’t a long ride, but my goodness some of those turns were rough LOL.
The Open House
We were dropped off at the lighthouse by the trolley. It was VERY cold, so we quickly went inside the Keeper’s House. Inside, we were greeted by festive decor. The open house had a LOT to offer. We started off by heading over to the tables where they were serving hot cocoa and cookies. The cocoa was DEFINITELY needed to warm up!
Next, we discovered there were some coloring pages for kids to do. My sister was all about that and I let her sit down and color it in. She was determined to color the entire thing while we were there, so we spent quite a bit of time here. I didn’t mind though because it was nice and warm inside.
While we were inside, we also spent some time learning about the lighthouse. There were a lot of different volunteers around the Keeper’s House that were more than happy to talk about the lighthouse! The Keeper’s House had recently been re-done so we learned a bit about that as well.
In addition to hot cocoa, cookies, and a cool coloring page, Mrs. Claus was also there! My sister took a picture with Mrs. Claus.
Before we headed outside, I decided to check out the gift shop. I love collecting magnets when I travel and thankfully I was able to find one! Then, we headed outside to check out the lighthouse.
Inside the lighthouse, there was a band playing music. It was fun getting to listen to them play inside the historic lighthouse.
After we had our fill, we hopped back on the trolley and headed back to Woods Hole Village. Then, I made the two and a half hour drive home!
Is This Worth Going To?
If you love all things festive and lighthouses, yes!! However, I do not recommend day tripping it in the way that I did with a five hour round trip just for an hour or two. If you’re going to do it, I’d recommend staying overnight. I’d recommend making a weekend trip out of it if you can swing it.
If I were to do it again, I’d either take the day off and spend the day up there, or I’d make a weekend trip out of it. This would have given me the opportunity to see the big wreath hung on the lighthouse during the day. While it was nice to see it at night, I would have liked to see the details of the wreath in the daylight. I also would have liked to explore Woods Hole Village. I only saw it at nighttime, but it looked super cute!
This year’s event is Friday, December 5, 2025 from 5pm to 8pm.
