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 of the Patapsco River and had a fourth order Fresnel lens.
Ice flows threatened the lighthouse on several occasions but repairs were made as well as several shoring projects over the years. Thomas Steinhise, keeper, received a Congressional Silver Lifesaving medal for heroism in 1933 after braving a storm in his small skiff to single-handedly rescue the crew of a foundering tugboat.
The lighthouse was automated in 1948 and soon fell victim to severe corrosion and vandalism. In October 1987 ownership of the lighthouse was transferred to the city of Baltimore. It was moved by barge, in 1988, to Pier 5 at Inner Harbor waterfront where it stands on its own legs.
It is the oldest surviving screwpile lighthouse and the only one of its design and is maintained by the Historic Ships In Baltimore as a museum. The Seaport of Baltimore has posted a history of the light station. The lighthouse is open daily, along with the lightship Chesapeake, spring to fall and Friday to Sunday in winter (museum admission fee).
- Keeper Bio: Bowling, Margaret
- Keeper Bio: Peterson, John
- Keeper Bio: Lewis, John B.
- Keeper Bio: Raabe, William
- Keeper Bio: Wingate, Henry Clay
- Keeper Bio: Bowling, James Thomas
- Keeper Bio: Slacum, William Kirwan
- Keeper Bio: Bounds, Otho
- Keeper Bio: Yeatman, William
- Keeper Bio: Somers, James T.
- Keeper Bio: Collison, David W.
- Keeper Bio: Steinhise, Thomas Jefferson
- Keeper Bio: Lewis, Frank Raymond
- Timeline: Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse
- Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse
Head Keepers: Samuel Ayers (1855 – 1856), George McCutchen (1856 – 1860), George Seibert (1860 – 1861), Edward B. Lucas (1861 – 1865), Thomas Cannon (1865 – 1867), John H. Wills (1867 – 1869), Edward B. Lucas (1869 – 1870), Thomas B. Davis (1870 – 1872), William Moody (1872 – 1873), Joel W. McDonald (1873 – 1874), James T. Bowling (1874 – 1879 ), John C. Moffett (1879 – 1881), John Peterson (1881 – 1886), Henry Corson (1886 – 1891), Christopher C. Butler (1891 – 1892), William K. Slacum (1892 – 1897), William R. Schoenfelder (1897 – 1898), John Berentsen (1898 – 1903), John H. Grain (1903 – 1916), John L. Ennis (1916 – at least 1919), James W. Simpson ( – 1921), Theodore Schlatzer (1921 – 1924), Otho Bounds (1924 – 1930), Thomas J. Steinhise (1930 – 1941)
First Assistant: George McCutchen (1856), John Pfeil (1856 – 1863), James W. Thompson (1863 – 1864), Edward Lucas (1864 – 1866), John F. Boyland (1866), William Manly (1866), John W. Taylor (1866 – 1867), Barney Conlay (1867 – 1869), George T. Ford (1869), John M. Hops (1869), Edward Bell (1869 – 1870), Joseph T. Worthington (1870 – 1871), William T. Brewer (1870), G.W. McDonald (1870 – 1871), Edward Bell (1871 – 1873), William K. Wise (1873 – 1874), Edward Bell (1874), Joseph F. Worthington (1874 – 1875), John B. Lewis (1875 – 1877), James E. Speights (1877 – 1879), John C. Moffett (1879), John Peterson (1879 – 1881), Edward North (1881 – 1882), Thomas Henderson (1882 – 1884), Henry Corson (1884 – 1886), Christian Schoor (1886), George W. Hanson (1886), William Krieg (1886 – 1889), James Healy (1889), William Collins (1889), Thomas J. Hooper (1889), Daniel McGonigle (1889 – 1890), James H. Asher (1890), William Raabe (1890 – 1891), Joseph Parry (1891), Christopher C. Butler (1891), Nicholas A. Collett (1891), William K. Slacum (1892), John Roat (1892), William A. Cowen (1892 – 1893), William R. Schoenfelder (1893 – 1894), Joshua Watts (1897 – 1899), Amasa J. Simpson (1899), Charles Kaonss (1899), John Swingler (1900), Harry C. Hughes (1900), R.H. Diggs (1900 – 1901), John Swingler (1901), Anders Simonsen (1901 – 1902), Charles W. Griggs (1902), T.C. Christiansen (1902), Richard Delacy (1902), William T. Donald (1902 – 1903), George M. Gaskins (1903), Henry C. Wingate (1903 – 1904), Hans C. Jansen (1904), T.C. Christiansen (1904), William J. Moody (1904), Hugh McGinniss (1904), Eugene S. Bradford (1904), Hugh McGinniss (1904), Walter C. Mitchell (1904 – 1905), Charles Kaonss (1905), Horace C. Groom (1905 – 1906), Albert C. Myers (1906), George Prichard (1906), Robert Kuhn (1906 – 1907), Vernon D. Nelson (1907), David W. Collison (1907 – 1909), Clarence F. Cockrell (1909), Theo. Schlatzer (1909 – 1910), C.C. Midgett (1910 – 1911), Thomas C. Lonergan (1911), Frederick Raabe (1911 – 1912), Joseph D. Farrow (1912 – 1913), John T. Saunders (1913 – 1914), William Yeatman (1914), Charles C. Harding ( – 1915), Otho Bounds (1915 – 1916), Arthur Midgett (1916 – ), Edward L. Thomas (1917), Benjamin D. Preston (1917 – 1918), William W. Bozman ( – 1919), Roland M. Midget (1919), Olaf Johnson (1919 –), Percy O. Gray ( – 1920), Adolphus W. Hooper (1920 – 1921), Thomas H. Barnes (1921), Utah C. Jenness (1921), William A. Davis (1921), Adolphus W. Hooper (1921), Caleb W. Evans (1921 – 1923), Crawford R. Austin (1923), T.J. Wise (1923), Frank R. Lewis (1923), Henry R. McCarthy (1923 – 1924), James A. Newton (1924), Ulysses L. Rollins (1924 – at least 1925), Enos L. Brooks (1925 – ), George C. Hunley (at least 1925 – at least 1928), James T. Somers (1931), Dosson D. Midgett (1931 – 1935), Samuel C. Dawson (1936 – 1939), Willie P. Willis (at least 1940)
Second Assistant: Samuel Auld (1856), John Mackinkeimer (1856), George W. Reeves (1856), David Fowler (1857), John Frazier (1857), W.E. Bassford (1857), Thomas Stevens (1857 – 1859), Dennis S. Kelly (1859 – 1860), Newton Seibert (1860 – 1861), Joseph Doughaday (1861 – 1863), Joshua J. Lucas (1863 – 1864), John Pfeil (1864 – 1866), Michael Kelley (1866), Larkin Hamilton (1866), Charles Jones (1866), William Clark (1866 – 1867), Zachariah Taylor (1867), Andrew Anderson (1867), Jesse Hines (1867), Benjamin Ferguson (1867 – 1869), William H. Gillespie (1869), Charles Wamslay (1869), William C. Barker (1869), John W. Rokess (1869 – 1870), Edward H. Harrison (1870), James F. Worthington (1870 – 1871), Charles I. Neal (1871), Jacob G. Adams (1871 – 1872), George Ford (1872), John J. Berry (1872), William H. Fowler (1872 – 1873), Henry Buckless (1873), Francis M. Buckless (1873 – 1874), Margaret Bowling (1874 – 1879), Henry W. Magill (1879), Franklin Cowen (1879 – 1881), Benjamin F. Lewis (1881 – 1882)
Updated 7/5/2019
| TIMELINE | GPS: 39.2836,-76.6054 |
