(Located in Elk Neck State Park, Cecil County, MD – the tallest focal plane of any MD lighthouse –- Home to four women keepers – Revised 02/07/2021) 1833 Thirty-five foot masonry tower and wooden keepers’ quarters built by John Donahoo on 100-foot bluff overlooking the Elk and North East Rivers. 1856 Fourth-order Fresnel lens visible …
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(The last manned lighthouse of the Chesapeake Bay) 1873: Congress approves $20,000 to build a new screwpile lighthouse at the end of Thomas Point Shoal. 1875: Congress approves an additional $15,000 to complete the new screwpile at Thomas Point. The new light is exhibited for the first time on November 20, 1875 with a 3-1/2 …
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(Located on south side of Kedges Strait near Smith Island between the Chesapeake Bay and Tangier Sound – nearly eight miles from land) 1875 First lighthouse, a screwpile built on Solomons Lump shoal. 1893 Lighthouse damaged by moving ice and later carried away by ice during construction of present caisson. 1895 Present steel caisson on cast-iron …
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(The leaning light of the Chesapeake Bay) 1838 First lighthouse, a wooden tower, built on the island (900 acres). 1848 Lighthouse moved inland due to erosion (now – 450 acres). 1855 Lighthouse refitted with 5th order Fresnel lens. 1865/66 Second light, a screwpile, built on shoal. 1881 Screwpile destroyed by ice. Structure w/ keepers aboard …
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(Located at Pier 5, Inner Harbor, Baltimore, MD – Oldest screwpile lighthouse in Maryland – Revised 5/27/2020) 1855: Light station established at the mouth of the Patapsco River. Second screwpile built on the bay – unique circular design 40 feet in diameter and made of cast-iron. Nearby Bodkin Light decommissioned. 1856: Fourth-order Fresnel lens installed. …
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(Located north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, offshore from Sandy Point State Park, near Annapolis, MD – Revised – 5/27/2020) 1858: First lighthouse established on land at Sandy Point. 1883: Present three-story, 51-foot tall red brick dwelling with a white roof on brown constructed on a caisson, 1,000 yards from Sandy Point State Park. 1890: …
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(Located on Pooles Island, off the mouth of the Gunpowder River – part of the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Oldest lighthouse still standing in MD – 4th Oldest LH on the Chesapeake Bay – 07/13/14) 1825 40 foot tall white-washed conical tower of Port Deposit granite built by John Donahoo- his second lighthouse project, assisted by …
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1836 Thirty-four foot tall brick lighthouse and Keepers’ dwelling built by John Donahoo of Havre de Grace, MD for $3,888. 1855 Old reflecting apparatus consisting of 10 lamps and 10 15-inch reflectors replaced with a 5th order Fresnel lens. Range increased to 11 miles. 1880 Thirty foot tall bell tower added to the light station …
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(Located on the grounds of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St.Michael’s, MD) 1827 Light station established. Several lightships in service. 1867 First screwpile built on north side of the entrance into Tangier Sound, marking the shoal on the north side of the channel between the mainland and Bloodsworth Island. 1877 Screwpile carried away and destroyed …
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(Located on the westerly point of the shoals to the west of Hooper Island and on the eastern side of the Bay – exactly halfway up the Chesapeake Bay) 1901 Construction of caisson with iron and brick dwelling constructed in 18 feet of water using pneumatic process begins (one of seven bay lights built using …
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(Located west of Holland Island, north of Smith Island, approx. 12 miles from mainland.) 1889 Hexagonal one and a half story cottage screwpile (similar to Drum Point LH) built at Lazaretto Depot and towed to site on Tangier Sound. Exhibits a fixed white light from a 4th order Fresnel lens. Fog bell also installed. 1905 …
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(Located at Fort Washington Park, Fort Washington, MD – Prince Georges County -revised 09/02/08) 1857 Light station – 18 1⁄2 foot cast-iron column with small light established at the intersection of the Potomac River w/ Swan and Piscataway Creeks. 1870 Small tower with 6th-order lens built. 1882 Present structure – 32 foot pyramidal wooden fog …
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(Located on Fishing Battery Island, 2.5 miles below the entrance to the Susquehanna River, Havre de Grace, MD) 1853 Construction of 32-foot tall, integral one and a half story brick lighthouse/dwelling built by John Donahoo. This was his last of 13 lighthouses. Fitted with 5 lamps and reflectors. 1855 Fitted with 6th-order Fresnel lens. 1864 …
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(Located six miles north of Point Lookout and nine miles south by southwest of Hooper Island Light) 1902 Construction begins on wooden caisson by Toomey Brothers of New York. 1903 Temporary pier collapses; caisson breaks apart in gale force winds and drifts down the bay, settling near the Rappahannock River, 40 miles south of construction …
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1830 One and one half story integral lighthouse built at the mouth of the Potomac River by John Donahoo of Havre De Grace, MD. James Davis serves as first keeper but dies within months of taking office. 1862 Hammond General Hospital established near lighthouse. 1863 Camp Hoffman (Union Prisoner of War Camp …
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(One of the shorter-lived lighthouse on the Bay) 1896: Three-story cottage-style structure of wood & brick with a square white tower attached to one corner built on a peninsula near the entrance to the Patuxent River. October 31, 1896: Fourth-order Fresnel lens flashing red at five-second intervals is lit. 1907: First erosion control project initiated. …
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(Located on grounds of Calvert Marine Museum, Solomons, MD) 1883 Forty-six foot tall, white hexagonal 1 1⁄2 story cottage on seven wrought-iron screwpiles constructed on the north side of the mouth of the Patuxent River in ten to twelve feet of water, 70 feet offshore. Exhibited a fixed red light with 4th-order Fresnel lens. 1933 …
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(Located four miles north of the entrance of Patuxent River, Calvert County, MD. Oldest continuously operating lighthouse in MD- Revised 04/02/18) 1828 Forty-foot tall masonry tower marking the shoal that extends offshore near Calvert Cliffs, MD and detached keepers dwelling built by John Donahoo. Fitted with eleven lamps and 18” reflectors. James Somerville appointed first …
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(Northernmost Maryland Lighthouse – located on Susquehanna River in town of Havre de Grace, MD) 1827 Thirty-eight and a half foot tall conical tower of Port Deposit granite and detached keepers’ dwelling built on nearby separate land parcel by John Donahoo. 1827 John O’Neill, local hero from the War of 1812 appointed first keeper. 1855 …
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(Located on the southern tip of St. Clement’s Island, St. Mary’s County, MD, on the mouth of the St. Marys’ River on the Potomac River. AKA Blakistone Island – revised 5/27/2020) 1851: Two-story brick dwelling with an integral tower built on Blackistone Island by John Donahoo. 2nd last lighthouse built by Donahoo. 1857: Tower …
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(Last conventional lighthouse built on the Chesapeake Bay) 1890: The Lighthouse Board requests $60,000 for a lighthouse to mark the entrance to the Baltimore Channel at the mouth of the Magothy River. 1894: Congress appropriates $60,000 on August 18, 1894. 1895: Test borings reveal 55 feet of soft mud before reaching the sand, which causes …
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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 …
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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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Blakistone Island Light was once located on Blackston Island. Today the island is better known as St. Clement’s Island. The island is only 5 miles downriver from Cobb Point Bar light. Congress appropriated $3,500 in 1848 for the lighthouse construction. John Donahoo was awarded the contract at a cost of $4,535. The structure was …
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The original tower on this point was built in 1831 by John Donahoo, the builder of 12 Chesapeake Bay lights. This was the tenth light that he was to build. It was 31 feet tall and was built of brick. The decision to build here was made because the government already owned five acres of …
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In 1821, a lightship was stationed at the location of the Upper Cedar Point Lighthouse. For the next 46 years, a total of four lightships remained there until the Lighthouse Board began replacing lightships with permanent structures. In 1867, a white, square screwpile light was built. It was nearly identical in appearance to the …
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