Craighill Channel Upper Range (Cut-Off Channel) Rear Lighthouse Timeline (Located on mainland – head of Old Road Bay. On Wharf Road at Sparrows Point Bethlehem Steel Plant -07/21/14)
1886 70-foot white square corrugated ironclad light supported by pyramidal iron framework built on brick foundation .Fitted with 4th-order locomotive light. Six-room wood and brick cottage-style keeper’s dwelling built 60 feet to the northeast. Gallery and stairs to access light built encircling tower above the four iron supports. Tower 1.5 miles north by northwest of associated front light. Constructed to mark a new,upper cutoff between Craighill and Brewerton channels. Rear light exhibits white beam 74 feet above water. Work on front light begins simultaneously. Both Upper Range lights built for $25,000.
1907 Renovation performed on tower.
1920s Keeper’s dwelling demolished.
1929 Automation.
2009 Nominated for National Register of Historic Places.
2014 Active aid to navigation. Exhibits fixed red light 24 hours a day.
Sources:, Lighthouse Friends web site – http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=418 , Lighting the Bay – Tales of Chesapeake Lighthouses by Pat Vojtech, Bay Beacons by Linda Turbyville and Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craighill_Channel_Upper_Range_Rear_Light
