Chesapeake Light Tower

Turnover of Chesapeake Lt Sta from the LS WLV-538 to the Light Tower on September 25th 1965.            Photo from Coast Guard Historians office.

Chesapeake Light Tower under construction in 1965.  Photo from the CG Historians office.

The Chesapeake Light Tower stands 13 miles offshore in the Atlantic Ocean off Virginia Beach. This steel, “Texas style” tower was built in 1965 and is 120 feet tall. The tower is supported by four 33 inch concrete filled steel pilings driven 180 feet into the ocean bottom. This so-called Texas tower was an adaptation modeled on the offshore oil drilling platforms first employed off the Texas coast.  The actual light tower stands 37 feet above the helicopter deck.

This light was originally a manned-station with four Coast Guard Sailors until it was converted into an automated light station in 1980.  It is also the site of scientific experimentation to collect data on ocean properties and weather as part of the NOAA system.   NASA has used Chesapeake Light Tower as a platform for conducting research.   Since 1999 instruments have been mounted on the tower to collect data as part of the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES).

In 2004, the Coast Guard considered demolishing the station, but subsequent testing found it to be structurally sound so it remained an active aid to navigation, the last of the seven Texas Towers.

In October 2012, the Chesapeake Light Tower was transferred from the Coast Guard to the Department of Energy so the structure can continue to be used for climate research with the light remaining an active Aid to Navigation.

By 2016 it was dis-continued as an Active Aid to Navigation and turned over to the GSA for sale.  It is a very popular fishing location.  It was sold for $215,000 but the new owner requested to remain anonymous.

The Lightship Chesapeake, now located in Baltimore, had served at this light station beginning in 1933.  The lightship stayed on location until 1965, except during World Was II, when the tower was built and placed in service in September 1965.