Holland Island Bar Light was originally a white hexagonal cottage screwpile structure built in 1889. The light was located in the Chesapeake Bay west of Holland Island, north of the Smith Island.
In 1931 the lighthouse keeper was mysteriously found dead in his bed at the lighthouse.
In 1957, Navy aircraft doing a routine practice night bombing raid mistakenly dropped targeting flares on the lighthouse instead of the target ship. The planes then proceeded to bomb and demolish the lighthouse with unarmed rockets. The two keepers at the light were injured in the process.
The current light was constructed in 1960 on the original screwpile foundation and is a steel skeletal tower. Accessible only by boat.
- Keeper Bio: Tyler, Charles C.
- Keeper Bio: Evans, Lorenzo Dow
- Keeper Bio: Leikam Sr., George Henry
- Keeper Bio: Austin, Julian Haywood
- Keeper Bio: Carman, Lewis Riggin
- Timeline: Holland Island Bar Lighthouse
- Holland Island Bar Lighthouse
Head Keepers: Edward W. Coulbourn (1889 – 1892), Josiah J. Hayman (1892), Edward R. Somers (1892 – 1909), Calvin H. Bozman (1909 – 1917), George S. Holland (1917), Charles C. Tyler (1917 – 1919), William O. Simpkins (1919 – 1924), Ulman Owens (1924 – 1931), Ulysses S. Todd (1931 – ), Henry R. Hanberry (at least 1939 – 1943), Julian H. Austin (1941 – 1943), George H. Leikam (1943 – 1945), Harry (Tom) Serres (1951 – 1952), Arnold W. White (at least 1957)
Assistant Keepers: Josiah J. Hayman (1889 – 1892), Francis M. Melvin (1892 – 1893), L. Dow Evans (1893 – 1895), Edgar T. Somers (1896 – 1900), Henry Addicks (1900 – 1901), James G. Lusley (1901), Thomas G. Willis (1901 – 1902), William S. Harrison (1902), Walter M. Burgess (1902 – 1903), Peter G. Gallop, Jr. (1903 – 1905), Littleton P. Timmons (1905 – 1906), George S. Hoffman (1906 – 1908), A.S. Hall (1908 – 1909), William A. Crockett (1909 – 1911), Henry T. McGrath (1911 – at least 1913), William F. McDorman (1914 – at least 1918), Wilbur S. Kelly (at least 1919 – 1925), Ulysses S. Todd (1925 – 1931), C.C. Marshall (1930s), Herman Crain (1936), Lewis R. Carman (1936 – 1938), Dallas E. Quidley (1938), William A. Davis (1938 – 1939), George H. Leikam (1942 – 1943), Donald M. Warner (at least 1957), William T. Scott (at least 1957), David L. Farrell (at least 1957)
Updated 4/19/2019
