Pooles Island Bar Light is located off the southern end of Pooles Island and east of Hart-Miller Island, Maryland. Congress appropriated $24,000 in 1927 to construct a light off Pooles Island to replace the Pooles Island Flats gas buoy. The light is a black skeleton tower attached to a black caisson structure. It is fitted …
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This aid to navigation is in about 4 feet of water on Hambrook Bar on the south side of the Choptank River and approximately 1-1/2 miles northwest from the entrance to Cambridge. On December 11, 1900, Representative Kerr, of Maryland, introduces a bill to the Committee on Commerce to establish a beacon light on …
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In 1985, the new owners of the Rukert Terminals Corporation, (the son and nephew of late Norman G. Rukert Sr.) decided to erect a replica of the Lazaretto Point light to honor Rukerts, Sr.’s memory. He had been a historian and a person who had loved the Baltimore …
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The City of Cambridge, Maryland, approved plans to build an exact replica of the lost Choptank River Lighthouse. After many years, the Maryland Legislature passed and Governor O’Malley signed legislation allowing this over water structure. The replica was completed in the fall of 2012. For more information visit: www.choosecambridge.com/226/Choptank-River-Lighthouse. The Choptank River Lighthouse Replica is …
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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 hoped to rebuild the lighthouse on land, but …
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In the spring of 2004, Bay Creek Resort & Club, Cape Charles, VA, built an exact replica of Old Plantation Flats Lighthouse in a man-made lake along the shores of Chesapeake Bay, just two miles from the original station. The replica is located in a development. A visitors pass can be usually be obtained at …
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The original lighthouse was decommissioned in 1932 and stood until July 16, 1956 when it caught fire and was destroyed. It is thought that the fire was caused by a shell from the nearby Naval station. The Navy razed the remains of the abandoned …
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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 …
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The excavation of Baltimore Harbor in the early 1800s was one of the greatest achievements of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, boosting Baltimore into one of the largest ports in the United States. Craighill Channel, named after William Price Craighill, (an Army engineer, and a longtime member of the Lighthouse Board), was used …
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The excavation of Baltimore Harbor in the early 1800s was one of the greatest achievements of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, boosting Baltimore into one of the largest ports in the United States. Craighill Channel, named after William Price Craighill, (an Army engineer, and a longtime member of the Lighthouse Board), was used …
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In 1885, nearly ten years after the completion of the Craighill Channel Lower Range Lights, money was requested to construct another set of range lights to mark the new cut-off channel that connected the Craighill and Brewerton Channels. This cutoff also shortened the route by several miles. Construction of the upper and rear range …
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In 1885, nearly ten years after the completion of the Craighill Channel Lower Range Lights, money was requested to construct another set of range lights to mark the new cut-off channel that connected the Craighill and Brewerton Channels. This cutoff also shortened the route by several miles. Construction of the upper and rear range lights …
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The Lighthouse Board’s original request for $60,000 to build a lighthouse was made in 1890 to mark the entrance to the Baltimore channel at the mouth of the Magothy River. Those funds were approved by Congress in 1894, but after extensive testing which revealed a layer of soft mud 55 feet below the surface of …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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Turkey Point Lighthouse is located in the Elk Neck State Park. It was authorized by Congress in 1831 and was built in 1833 with a tower and keeper’s quarters by John Donohoo. The tower is 35 feet high and is situated on a 100-foot bluff where the North East and Elk Rivers converge. Originally, the …
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Before the older lighthouse at Thomas Point collapsed, the Lighthouse Board had planned to replace the light with a new screwpile structure to be located at the point of the dangerous shoal stretching into the Chesapeake Bay. Congress approved $20,000 for the new light on March 3, 1873. However, the Lighthouse Board reconsidered changing the …
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The first lighthouse erected here in 1875 was a square cottage style screwpile design. It replaced a light at Fog Point on Cherry Island about a mile to the south that was built in 1827. The screwpile lasted for 18 years until January of 1893 when ice build-up caused the structure to be bent over …
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The Sharps Island lighthouse is a cast-iron caisson filled with concrete with a brick-lined cast iron tower built on top. The tower is 37 feet tall which sets the light 54 feet above the mean water level. This structure was constructed in 1881-2 and first lit on February 1, 1882. This is the third light …
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Seven Foot Knoll Light was the second screwpile light to be built on the Chesapeake and the first to be built in Maryland. It is built entirely of iron and in a circular design, which is unique among the Bay’s screwpiles along with its barn red color. It was constructed in 1855 at the mouth …
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In 1883 the Sandy Point Shoal caisson with a 37-foot Empire-style eight-sided, red-brick tower with a white roof and black lantern housing a 4th order Fresnel lens was built. This caisson replaced an earlier Sandy Point Light that had been built on land where Sandy Point State Park is located now. It was an onshore …
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NOTE: This light is off-limits to the general public because the island was used for bombing and shelling practice from 1918 through the early 1960’s. There are many unexploded bombs and shells all over the island. The light on Pooles Island was authorized by Congress in May of 1824. John Donahoo was the low bidder …
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The first requests for placing a light at this location were sent to Congress in 1891. Congress took no action and the requests were made each year until finally in 1901 $65,000 was granted for the building of the light. Contracts were let for the fabrication of the caisson and the ironwork in 1902. …
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The Point Lookout Lighthouse is located at the mouth of the Potomac River at the Bay and was originally constructed in 1830 as a one-and-a-half-story wooden and masonry building. It was raised to two-stories in 1883 with the light raised to 41 feet. A free-standing fog bell was built in 1872, however, after the buoy repair shed was …
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Built in 1836, the Piney Point Lighthouse and keeper’s quarters are located 14 miles up the Potomac River from the Chesapeake Bay. Prior to this, a lightship was stationed in the area since 1821 to mark dangerous shoals at Piney Point. This beacon stands preserved today as a witness to a bygone era of high …
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The entrance to Tangier Sound was marked with a lightship from 1827 or 1828 to 1845. The first lighthouse was constructed in 1867 and destroyed by ice during the winter of 1877. The second screwpile lighthouse was constructed in 1880. The structure was designed and built in Baltimore, then dismantled and re-erected at the …
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The Wolf Trap light is located in 16 feet of water on the eastern end of the Wolf Trap Spit south of where the Rappahannock River enters the Chesapeake Bay. It is a caisson tower with its light 52 feet above mean high water. Congress first appropriated funds for a light at Windmill Point or …
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