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Honoring Keepers  in October After a three-year hiatus – due to Covid and some relocation – the Chapter and its Virginia Lighthouse Keeper Grave Marker Team are resuming honoring Chesapeake Bay light keepers on October 7.  We have scheduled six ceremonies on the first Saturday in October in Mathews County, VA. We will be joined …

  2023 Project Scheduled Date(s) Notes Historic Ships of Baltimore Must be a Chapter Member to participate. Work will be on the Lightship Chesapeake in Baltimore Inner Harbor. May 6, 2023 Completed June 17, 2023 Completed October 7, 2023 November 4, 2023 Contact: preservation@cheslights.org

     James and Margaret Bowling were one of many married couples who served together as Lighthouse Keepers, in their case at the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse near the entrance to the Patapsco River near Baltimore.  James had previously served as the Head Keeper of the Lower Craighill Channel Front Range Lighthouse from 1873 to 1874, …

Seaman Sven Olsen Grave Memorial with the USLHS and Lightship Crew marker installed. Seaman Sven Olsen served on three Lightships during his time in the U. S. Lighthouse Service.  In April a Lighthouse Service Grave Marker was installed on his memorial marker in Holly Hill Memorial Gardens Baltimore.  The rules for the veteran’s section there …

  It was a pleasant day to be out and about in Maryland this past Saturday so it was a nice day for the Chapter volunteers who showed up for the first preservation work day of 2023 on the Lightship Chesapeake in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The ship is in need of some TLC and that …

Despite the cold of December, we were able to honor Lightship and Lighthouse Tender Capt John H. Tawes with a U. S. Lighthouse Service Grave Marker.   Lightship Crew Capt John H. Tawes served as the Mate, then Master of Lightship #71 on the Diamond Shoals and Tail of the Horseshoe light stations from 1900 …

The last Lighthouse Historical Displays of 2022 were provided to the Skipjack Heritage Museum on Deal Island in Chance, MD.  These three displays tell the histories of the Clay Island, Sharkfin Shoal and Great Shoals lighthouses in the upper Tangier Sound of Maryland’s Eastern Shore.   The Skipack Museum already had a large model of …

Four volunteers showed up on a bright clear November day to do a little work on the Lightship Chesapeake. This was the largest work crew from the Chapter to work on the National Historic Landmark up in Baltimore since the Pandemic slowed things down. It will be a surprise to no one that it involved …

We are just a few weeks away from the big online auction to benefit Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse to undertake preservation projects for this treasured National Historic Landmark. The A NIGHT FOR THE LIGHT Fundraiser auction will be live from Wednesday, September 14 at 8am (EST) until Wednesday, September 21 at 10 pm (EST). Items …

The Deltaville VA area is near the entrance to the Rappahannock River.  Also near the entrance to that river are the Stingray Point and Windmill Point lights.  Although both of the cottage-style screwpile lighthouses are gone, replaced by modern cement caisson style lights, their long history is not but it is fading.  To help residents …