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Janes Island Station
Janes Island, 1853-1867 The Janes Island station was located on the east side of the Chesapeake Bay between Smith Island and the eastern shore of the Bay. The station was held from 1853-1867, a total of 14 years, and marked the entrance to the Little Annamessex River, Tangier Sound, Maryland. Built in 1853, the vessel …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/janes-island-station/
Lightship Overfalls
LV-118 was built by the Rice Brothers of East Boothbay, Maine in 1938. The contract price was $223,900 and was the last lightship built for the U.S. Lighthouse Service. The lightship first served at the CORNFIELD light station off Cornfield Point near Old Saybrook Connecticut until 1957. In 1956 her hull designation and number were …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/overfalls-lightship/
Craney Island Station
Craney Island Station, 1820-1859 Only one lightship ever marked this location and it was also the first U.S. Lightship. Lightship “C” (lightships were designated by a single letter prior to the LV or “Light Vessel system) was stationed from 1820-1859. Serving as a guide to vessels approaching the Norfolk & Portsmouth Harbors, it was stationed …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/craney-island-station/
Hooper Strait Station
Hooper Strait, 1827-1867 LV-25 was a 61-foot wood schooner built in the Chesapeake Bay area and stationed in Hooper Strait in 1827. The lighting apparatus was a single lantern, an oil lamp with 11 cylindrical wicks. There was also a hand-operated bell and horn which served as the fog signal. The condition of the schooner …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/hooper-strait-station/
Bush Bluff Station
Bush Bluff Station, 1891-1918 The Bush Bluff station was stationed in Elizabeth River in the lower bay approximately one mile north of Craney Island. It was used to mark the dangerous Bush Bluff Shoal and serve as a guide in the approach to the harbors of Portsmouth & Norfolk. The U.S. Lighthouse Board had originally …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/bush-bluff-station/
Workday: Historic Ships of Baltimore November 19, 2011
Volunteers helped scrape and paint an old binnacle in preparation for creating a donation box. While some volunteers worked on the binnacle, others pulled some of the old electrical cable. Some new cable was inserted. Some of the light bulbs in the engine room were replaced.
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/lightship-chesapeake-november-19-2011-2/
Bowlers Rock Station
Bowlers Rock Station, 1835 – 1868 A total of two lightships were assigned to the Bowlers Rock station in the upper Rappahannock River approximately 34 miles above its entrance into the Chesapeake Bay and approximately 8-1/2 miles downriver from the town of Tappahannock to mark a large rock on the east side of the channel, …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/bowlers-rock-station/
Lightship Portsmouth
LV-101 was built in 1915 with one sister ship. Both LV-101 + LV-102 were unique in that they were built with a steel whaleback type hull. This means that the hull is curved and rounded above and below the waterline, making the ship very stable in stormy seas. Additionally, the vessels used unique hollow masts …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/portsmouth-lightship/
Lightship Chesapeake
LS-116 was built by the Charleston Dry-dock & Machine Company in Charleston, SC in 1929 as one of six LS-100 class of lightships for the U. S. Lighthouse Service. The contract price was $274,434. The LS-116 was launched on October 22, 1929 and completed fitting out by August 14, 1930. She was considered “the finest …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/chesapeake-lightship/
Delaware Breakwater East End
Delaware Breakwater Light was built in 1885 and positioned such that it could be seen from both the harbor and the ocean. It is a brown brick conical tower on a concrete and stone caisson. The light originally had a fourth order Fresnel lens but was replaced with an airport-style beacon in 1973. The Delaware …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/delaware-breakwater-east-end/
Harbor of Refuge
Harbor of Refuge Breakwater Light is the third lighthouse to be built on this site. In 1825 Congress authorized construction of a breakwater at Lewes to meet the demands for a place where ships could seek shelter behind Cape Henlopen, Delaware. The Harbor of Refuge Lighthouse sits at the end of a breakwater on the …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/harbor-of-refuge/
Fenwick Island
The lighthouse was authorized to be built in 1856 at a cost of $23,748.96. Work was begun on the 87-foot tall tower in 1857 and first lit on August 1, 1858. The light was needed to protect shipping from the treacherous Fenwick sand shoals that extend several miles out from the Delaware coast. The tower …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/fenwick-island/
York Spit Lighthouse
York Spit Lighthouse was built in 1870 in the Chesapeake Bay about 5 miles east of Rue Point at the southern entrance to the York River, Virginia. It was to mark a long shoal that paralleled the main channel into the York River eight miles into the Chesapeake Bay. Prior to the construction of the …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/york-spit/
Windmill Point Lighthouse
Photo Courtesy U.S. Coast Guard Windmill Point Lighthouse was built in 1869 at the entrance to the Rappahannock River on the north side. Three separate lightships were originally stationed here from 1834 until the lighthouse was constructed. Confederates took the first lightship in 1861. The lighthouse was …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/windmill-point/
White Shoal Lighthouse
White Shoal Lighthouse was built in 1855 and was one of three screwpiles lighted on February 6 in the James River. The lighthouse was located below Sandy Point on the lower end of the shoal and on the right side of the main channel heading upriver near Newport News, Virginia. It was built to replace …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/white-shoal/
Watts Island Lighthouse
Watts Island Lighthouse was built in 1833 on Little Watts Island, a seven-acre island, just south of Watts Island between the Eastern Shore peninsula and Tangier Island. John Donohoo of Havre De Grace, Maryland built the original brick 48-foot tower in 1833 which was equipped with a fifth-order Fresnel lens at a cost of $4,775. …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/watts-island-lighthouse/
Tue Marshes Lighthouse
Originally called “Too’s Marshes” the Tue Marshes Lighthouse was built in 1875 on the southern shore entrance to the York River on the Goodwin Islands. Built at a price of $15,000, it was a square white screwpile lighthouse with a brown roof, set on a wrought-iron foundation. It was originally equipped with a sixth-order Fresnel …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/tue-marshes-lighthouse/
Stingray Point Lighthouse
Stingray Point Lighthouse was built in 1858 at the entrance to the Rappahannock River near Deltaville, Virginia. It was a hexagonal screwpile lighthouse. The lighthouse was automated just prior to being dismantled in 1965. Sections of the lighthouse were sold to Gilbert Purcell, a boatyard owner who …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/stingray-point/
Pungoteague Creek Lighthouse
The first Pungoteague Creek Lighthouse was built in 1854 just offshore near the entrance to the Pungoteague Creek in Accomack County, Virginia. It was built by Major Hartman Bache and was the first screwpile built in the Chesapeake Bay. During the winter of 1854, the superstructure, foundation, and ironwork were completed in Philadelphia, and …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/pungoteague-creek/
Old Plantation Flats Lighthouse
Old Plantation Flats Lighthouse was built in 1886 as a white rectangular screwpile with a tower on the roof. The lighthouse was located at the entrance to the channel leading to Cape Charles, Virginia and Old Plantation Creek. The lighthouse had an unusual foundation construction with a combination of screwpile and concrete pylons. The lighthouse …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/old-plantation-flats/
Nansemond River Lighthouse
Due to increased river traffic in the Nansemond area, Congress appropriated $15,000 on July 31, 1876, to construct a lighthouse Pig Point on the eastern side of the entrance to the Nansemond River in Suffolk, Virginia. The following year, a tract of land was obtained from the Governor of Virginia to construct the light. The …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/nansemond-river-lighthouse/
Lambert Point Lighthouse
Lambert Point Lighthouse was built in 1872 on the shore of the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Virginia. It was a square screwpile set on five piles, rather than the six that were planned. The house was brown in color and the lantern had a red light of the fifth order. In 1873, it was reported …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/lambert-point/
Killock Shoal Lighthouse
On July 7, 1884, Congress appropriated $10,000 to construct a light on the north end of the Chincoteague Channel just adjacent to Chincoteague Island, known as the Killock Shoal Lighthouse (sometimes spelled Killick). After the site was selected, borings were made at a depth of seventeen feet, which showed that the bottom of the Bay …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/killock-shoal-lighthouse/
Jordan Point Lighthouse
Jordan Point Lighthouse was built in 1855 in the upper James River near Hopewell, Virginia, twenty miles from Richmond. Jordan Point was one of four early navigational aids on the James River leading to Richmond. The first lighthouse was a white, twenty-four foot by 17-foot rectangular two-story structure supported on stone piers with the lantern …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/jordan-point/
Hog Island Lighthouse
The first Hog Island Lighthouse was built in 1852. It was a white conical brick tower equipped with 15 lamps set in 21-inch reflectors exhibiting a fixed white light that could be seen for 13 miles. Adjacent to the lighthouse was a keeper’s dwelling. In 1855, the lamps were replaced with a fourth-order Fresnel lens. …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/hog-island-lighthouse/
Great Wicomico River Lighthouse
On October 2, 1888, Congress appropriated $25,000 to build a lighthouse at the mouth of the Great Wicomico River on Virginia’s Western Shore. This would help guide mariners through two shallow shoals at the entrance of the river. Proposals for bids went out in January 1889 for the ironwork. The winning bid was for $13,975 …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/great-wicomico-river-lighthouse/
Timeline: Old Cape Henry Lighthouse
(Located at Fort Story, northern end of Atlantic Ave., Virginia Beach, VA) (Active Military base – Identification, Insurance proof, vehicle search required) (Revised – 03/25/2013) 1791-1792 Ninety-foot tall octagonal tower of sandstone built by John McComb, Jr. of New York for $17,700. First federal works project and first lighthouse built by US government. 1792 Laban …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/timeline-old-cape-henry-lighthouse/
Timeline: New Cape Henry Lighthouse
(Located on grounds of Fort Story, northern end of Atlantic Avenue, Virginia Beach, VA – (Active Military base – Identification, Insurance proof, vehicle search required) (Revised 03/25/2013) 1881 163 foot tall tower of white and black prefabricated cast-iron plates built 350 feet southeast of old tower. Jay Edwards, first keeper lights first-order Fresnel lens. Old …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/timeline-new-cape-henry-lighthouse/
Dutch Gap Canal Lighthouse
Dutch Gap Canal Lights were constructed at either end of the canal in 1875 near Hopewell, Virginia on the upper James River. The lights were two 27-foot post lights. The lights were originally to be a sixth-order, but it was decided to use small lanterns, burning mineral oil. The canal was constructed by Union troops …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/dutch-gap-canal-lighthouse/
Timeline: Chesapeake Light Tower
(Located 13 miles east of Virginia Beach, 14.5 miles ESE of Cape Henry, VA) (Revised – 03/26/2013) 1888-1965 Five Light vessels and LV-116/WAL-538 Chesapeake (1933 to 1965) mark the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. 1965 Chesapeake decommissioned. New, ultra modern lighthouse, an adaptation of an offshore oil drilling platform first used off Texas coast, is …
Permanent link to this article: https://cheslights.org/timeline-chesapeake-light-tower/
