Stingray Point Lighthouse

Stingray Point Light 2021-Photo by Greg Krawczyk

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 never did. It was replaced with a steel skeletal tower built on the original foundation.

An excerpt from a report to the Light House Board in 1865 “The light has been restored at Stingray Point, after making certain needful repairs to the screw-pile structure, which though plundered of all movable articles, was but slightly injured.” The report does not say whether damage and plundering were due to Confederates.

Stingray Point received its name from Captain John Smith, founder of Jamestown, Virginia. It is said that a stingray stung him while fishing near the point.

A Stingray Point replica was completed in March 2003 at Stingray Harbor Marina.

For more information, visit the Deltaville Maritime Museum.

• Keeper Bio: Brooks, William Thomas “Billy”
• Keeper Bio: Sadler, Andrew Broaddus
• Keeper Bio: Sadler, Charles Franklin
• Keeper Bio: Ripley, Wesley Foster
• Keeper Bio: Marchant, Levi D.
• Keeper Bio: Lewis, Frank Raymond
• Keeper Bio: Hudgins, John Filmore
• Timeline: Stingray Point Lighthouse
• Stingray Point Lighthouse

Head Keepers: Samuel Cole (1858 – 1861), Albert Davis (1865), Alexander Winder (1865 – 1866), Samuel Cole (1866 – 1870), Alexander A. Midgett (1870 – 1872), Richard M. Glenn (1872 – 1876), George W. Crittenden (1876 – 1879), Joseph K. Chitwood (1879), George W. Crittenden (1879 – 1882), Charles S. Lankford (1882 – 1883), Charles F. Sadler (1883 – 1886), Wesley F. Ripley (1886 – 1888), Edward A. Sibley (1888 – 1889), Levi D. Marchant (1889 – 1921), John F. Hudgins (1921 – 1923), Andrew J. Jarvis (at least 1925), Frank R. Lewis (1933 – 1934), John T. Saunders (at least 1939 – at least 1940), Frank R. Lewis (1945 – 1948)

Assistant:  Benjamin Todd (1858 – 1860), Thomas Hundley (1860), William J. Hart (1860 – 1861), Alexander Winder (1865), Francis P. Jarvis (1865 – 1866), Thomas Calhoon (1866 – 1867), Mrs. Columbia F. Cole (1867 – 1869), Mrs. Columbia F. Cole Crittenden (1869 – 1872), George W. Crittenden (1872), John R. Hall (1872 – 1873), Christopher A. Robinson (1873 – 1879), A.R. Johnson (1879), C.A. Robinson (1879 – 1880), Byron D. Kelly (1880 – 1883), R.F. Bristow (1883 – 1885), James W. Hudgins (1885 – 1886), Edward A. Sibley (1886 – 1888), John S. Dunlavy (1888), Charles P. Morgan (1888 – 1891), James T. Parks (1891 – 1900), William H. Parkinson (1900), George P. Hudgins (1900 – 1901), H.C. Groom (1902 – 1902), Sigbjorn Johnson (1902), William B. Jennett (1902 – 1903), John T. Twiford (1903), Andrew B. Sadler (1903 – at least 1913), William T. Brooks (at least 1915 – 1923), John M. Marchant (1923 – at least 1930), Enos L. Brooks (at least 1933 – at least 1940), Randall Hudgins, Jr. (at least 1953)

Updated 7/11/2021