Love Point Lighthouse

Love Point Lighthouse 1952-US Coast Guard Photo

Remains of Love Point Lighthouse 2015-Photo courtesy Greg Krawczyk

The first request for a lighthouse to be built at Love Point was in 1834, but that request was rejected in 1837 after Captain Claxton of the Navy Commissioners Office claims that “it would be totally useless for vessels passing up or down the bay and is not necessary for the limited number of craft trading in Chester River.” After several years, once again in 1854, Congress appropriates $15,000 to construct a lighthouse but three years later the construction has still not started. After numerous petitions to construct the lighthouse are submitted to the Lighthouse Board, Congress appropriates another $15,000 in 1870 to construct a screwpile lighthouse on Love Point. The lighthouse will stand in 10-feet of water on the shoal at the mouth of the Chester River, a little over a mile from the north end of Kent Island.

Constructed by Francis Gibbons and Francis Kelly, Love Point Lighthouse was a hexagonal, white screwpile with four rooms built on ten piles with an iron foundation. It was fitted with a three-and-one-half order Fresnel lens exhibiting a fixed white light with varied red flashes to distinguish it from the Sandy Point Shoal Lighthouse across the bay. The light was first exhibited on August 15, 1872.

During the winter of 1872-1872, the lighthouse sustained considerable damage from ice floes. Two of the main columns were broken and two ice breaker piles were carried away. Because this lighthouse was one of the most exposed in the district, riprap stone was placed around the lighthouse forming an artificial island to prevent damage from future ice floes.

In 1875, the original three-and-one-half lens is replaced with a fixed white light in 1875. In the winter of 1879, ice surrounded the lighthouse but does no damage. In 1879, an additional 100 cubic yards of heavy stone was added on top of the old riprap for extra reinforcement to protect the lighthouse.

Winter of 1936 was another brutal one. At the request of the Lighthouse Service, five men tied together with a rope, braved a six-mile walk to the lighthouse to notify Keeper Otho Bounds that he needed to evacuate because of dangerous ice. He returned with the men safely to shore and the lighthouse remained unattended until the danger of ice was gone.

In 1953, Love Point Lighthouse was automated and in 1964 the lighthouse was dismantled. An automatic light was erected on the remaining screwpile foundation. As of 2020, the remains of the original lighthouse can still be seen on the riprap island. The current beacon is a diamond-shaped day board on a skeleton tower near the remaining foundation. The beacon is visible from the end of route 18.

• Keeper Bio: Shawn, Walter M.
• Keeper Bio: Bounds, Otho
• Timeline: Love Point Lighthouse
• Love Point Lighthouse

Head Keepers: William B. Reed (1872 – 1876), William A. Mansfield (1876 – 1879), Thomas F. Hamilton (1879), Samuel C. Walters (1879 – 1881), Edward Lambert (1881 – 1884), William W. Alley (1884 – 1885), J. F. Larrimore (1885), John R. Earekson (1885 – 1886), Theodore S. Crockett (1886 – 1889), Theodore A. Hopkins (1889 – 1898), Richard S. Daniels (1898 – 1900), Thomas Ringgold (1900 – 1903), W.M. Shawn (1904), William R. Schoenfelder (1904 – 1908), Anders Simonsen (1908 – 1919), Robert Bradshaw (1919), Charles A. Larsen (1919 – 1921), John E. Midgett (1921 – 1922), Arthur Midgett (1922 – at least 1928), Otho Bounds (1930 – at least 1936), Samuel C. Dawson (1939 – 1945)

First Assistant: Charles H. Erdman (1872 – 1873), Eugene Burchenal (1873 – 1875), George W. Fallowfield (1877 – 1879), Samuel C. Walters (1879), John L. Hamilton (1879 – 1880), Edward Lambert (1880 – 1881), William W. Alley (1881 – 1882), John L. Hamilton (1883 – 1884), Frederick K. Bryan (1884), John J. Blackinston (1884), John A. Rollison, Jr. (1884 – 1885), John R. Earekson (1885), Theodore A. Hopkins (1885 – 1889), Moses W. Legg (1889 – 1892), James D. Cowman (1892), Thomas Ringgold (1892 – 1900), Walter S. Barnett (1900 – 1901), R.T. Baxter (1901), Edwin L. Styron (1901), John B. Quidley (1901 – 1902), Edward G. Hoppins (1902), Anders Simonsen (1902 – 1905), Bartram N. Stuart (1905), James W. Gillikin (1905), H. M. Green (1905), George Prichard (1905 – 1906), Charles J. Horner (1906), Joseph W. Cooper (1906), Albert C. Myers (1906 – 1907), Wesley L. Gaskill (1907), Robert Kuhn (1907 – 1908), Humphreys J. Hance (1908), Robert Kuhn (1908), Sangston G. Bell (1908), Addison S. Hall (1908), P.S. Yeatman (1908 – 1909), R. S. Austin (1909 – 1910), William F. Mathaney (1910 – 1914), Thomas C. Lonergan (1914 – ), James M. Ellis ( – 1915), Clark I. Sims (1915 – 1916), William M. Midgett (1916 – 1917), Robert Kuhn ( – 1917), Albert W.S. Tyler (1917 – 1918), Andrew J. Potts (1918), John Pagels (1919 – ), John E. Midgett (1920 – 1921), John D. Elliott (1924 – 1930), Zadock W. Sturgis (1930 – 1939), Howard G. Brumsey (at least 1939 – at least 1942)

Second Assistant: Edward Minnick (1873 – at least 1874), George W. Fallowfield (1875 – 1877), J.C. Bryan (1903 – 1904)

Sources:

1. Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board, various years.
2. Forgotten Beacons, Patrick Hornberger & Linda Turbyville, 1997
3. The Daily Times, February 11, 1936

Updated 5/18/2020