Cape Charles Lighthouse

The first lighthouse at this site was completed in 1828. It was a 60-foot masonry tower that was painted white. In 1856 $35,000 was appropriated for a new tower. Work started in 1860 and at the start of the Civil War was only 83 feet tall. The Confederates raided the site and destroyed the light and took anything of value from the construction site. In 1864 an additional $20,000 was authorized and the tower was completed and lit in 1864. Erosion was active in the area and after a storm in 1889 the tower was condemned. A new cast-iron skeleton tower was built and first lit on August 15, 1895. This is the current standing lighthouse that you see.

The 1st order Fresnel lens was removed in 1963 when the station was automated and is now in an excellent display at the Newport News Mariners’ Museum.

This story is based on an article in the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot of July 14, 2000.

A brush fire on July 13, 2000, has destroyed the 1895 keeper’s quarters at Cape Charles Light on Smith Island, Virginia. The origin of the fire is not known. About 30 acres of dry grass and upper marshland were burned, including the light station. Several dozen firefighters from Northampton County volunteer fire departments finally extinguished the blaze.

Reports indicate there was only minor damage to the lighthouse, the nation’s second tallest. The lighthouse is a cast-iron skeletal tower likely to resist all but the most intense fires. Other light station buildings include a brick generator house, brick coal shed, wood storehouse, and wood privy. The fate of these buildings was not reported immediately.

The light in the lantern stopped working in 2013 and the Coast Guard never repaired it. In 2019, the Coast Guard abandoned the light and it is no longer an active aid to navigation. In 2020, the light is added to the Lighthouse Digest Doomsday List.

Directions:  The Cape Charles Lighthouse is one of those lights that you can’t get to by car.  It is on Smith Island just north of the entrance of the Chesapeake Bay. The island is owned by the Nature Conservancy.  It can be seen from Fisherman Island on the Chesapeake Bay-Bridge Tunnel, although there is no place to stop.  There is a parking area for the wildlife refuge right after you get off the bridge on the right side going north that does offer a view of the lighthouse but you are still over three miles away.

• Keeper Bio: Kendall, Thomas L.
• Keeper Bio: Fitchett, Thomas J.
• Keeper Bio: Fitchett, Jesse S.
• Keeper Bio: Potts, Nancy B.
• Keeper Bio: Potts, Jean G.
• Keeper Bio: Williams, James Garnett
• Keeper Bio: Sadler, Charles Franklin
• Keeper Bio: Austin, Julian Haywood
• Keeper Bio: Salter, Clarence Walter
• Timeline: Cape Charles Lighthouse
• Cape Charles Lighthouse

Head Keepers:  James Powell (at least 1827 – at least 1831), Thomas S. Brickhouse (at least 1833 – 1841), Obadiah Goffigan (1843 – 1845), Thomas S. Brickhouse (1845 – 1846), Obadiah Goffigan (1846 – 1856), John S. Robins (1856 – 1862), Thomas J. Fitchett (1862 – 1863), William W. Stakes (1863 – 1864), Jean G. Potts (1864 – 1865), William R. Carpenter (1865), Jean G. Potts (1865 – 1868), Thomas L. Kendall (1868 – 1870), R.B. Moore (1870 – 1877), John Goffigan (1877 – 1890), Charles F. Taylor (1890 – 1892), James Goffigan (1892 – 1894), Joseph R. Diggs (1894 – 1909), Thomas S. Hudgins (1909 – 1911), James G. Williams (1911 – at least 1917), James L. Lewis (at least 1919 – at least 1921), James English ( – 1925), John B. Quidley (1925 – ), Eldred J. Cherrix (1929 – 1938), Homer T. Austin (at least 1939 – at least 1940)

First Assistant:  Jesse Hill (1864), W. Hirstman (1864 – 1865), Mrs. Jean G. Potts (1865), M.L. Simpson (1865 – 1866), John Homer (1866 – 1867), Jacob H. Fitchett (1867), Nathaniel G. Burris (1867), James E. Press (1867), William McKown (1867 – 1868), Nathaniel G. Burris (1868 – 1875), John Goffigan (1875 – 1877), Thomas W. Costin (1877 – 1883), Leonard T. Fitchett (1883 – 1884), Joseph H. Odear (1884), A.J. Simpson (1884), T.L. Goffigan (1884 – 1888), Charles F. Taylor (1888 – 1890), James Goffigan (1890 – 1892), Jesse S. Fitchett (1892 – 1894), Benjamin F. Toy (1894 – 1898), George E. Ames (1898 – 1904), Leonard H. Staubly (1904 – 1912), Allie L. Davis (1912 – 1914), James L. Lewis (1914 – at least 1917), Hillary Quillen (at least 1919 – at least 1921), Eldred J. Cherrix (1922 – 1925), Joseph D. Barnett (1925 – 1927), Martin B. Tolson (at least 1930), James M. Newcomb (1938 – 1939), George S. Rollinson (at least 1940)

Second Assistant:  Mutter (1864), Joseph Lewis (1864 – 1865), William Griffin (1865), Thomas C. Beebe (1865), William Erxlehen (1865 – 1867), Mrs. Jean G. Potts (1867 – 1872), Alfred Knight (1872 – 1873), Charles H. Carter (1873 – 1875), Thomas H. Braxton (1875 – 1876), Samuel Townsend (1876 – 1877), Severn H. Smith (1877 – 1878), Edwin Goffigan (1878 – 1882), Thomas J. Fitchett (1882 – 1883), William M. Griffith (1883), Leonard T. Fitchett (1883), Joseph H. Odear (1884), T.L. Goffigan (1884), Charles F. Taylor (1885 – 1888), James Goffigan (1889 – 1890), Michael E. Underhill (1890 – 1891), Jesse S. Fitchett (1892), Benjamin F. Toy (1892 – 1894), Francis J. Rolley (1894 – 1896), George S. Ames (1896 – 1898), Luther B. Travis (1898 – 1902), C.B. Diggs (1902), John F. Jarvis (1902 – 1903), George A. Fowler (1903 – 1908), Allie L. Davis (1908 – 1912), Stratton B. Robins (1912 – 1913), James L. Lewis (1913 – 1914), Clarence W. Salter ( – 1915), Julius A. Akerstrom (1915 – 1918), Carl G. Marsh (1918 – 1919), Edwin C. Tyler (1919 – 1920), George C. Hunley (1920 – at least 1921), Charles H. Fulcher ( – 1922), Joseph D. Barnett (1922 – 1925), Julian H. Austin (1925 – 1928), E.J. Harper (at least 1930), Joseph L. Mayor (1932 – 1933)

Updated 9/14/2020