Two Lights State Park

About this park

Two Lights State Park, established in 1961, occupies a compact 41 acres on a rocky headland in Cape Elizabeth, taking its name from the twin lighthouses that once stood at this point, one of which remains an active aid to navigation today. The dramatic, wave-battered rock formations along the shoreline have made this one of the most iconic and frequently painted and photographed spots on the entire Maine coast, including a famous 1929 painting by Edward Hopper. Unlike a typical sandy beach park, Two Lights is defined by its rugged, rocky coastline, with trails leading along the cliffs rather than down to sand, and open ocean views stretching out toward the horizon with no offshore islands to break the vista, a genuinely open expanse of Atlantic Ocean rare along the more sheltered Maine coast. The nearby Lobster Shack restaurant, just outside the park boundary, has become something of an institution in its own right for visitors combining a park visit with fresh Maine lobster. With no campground and no sandy beach, Two Lights functions purely as a scenic, rocky-coast day-use destination, popular for picnicking, tide-pooling, and simply taking in the open ocean views. Its shared management and address with nearby Crescent Beach State Park reflects how compactly Cape Elizabeth's coastline packs multiple distinct, individually named state parks into a relatively small area just south of Portland.