(Located one mile south of Alexandria, VA – on west bank of Potomac River, Jones Point Park, just south of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge) (Revised-04/18/13)
1856 Present white wooden frame dwelling with integral roof-mounted black lantern constructed by Charles Church. Illumination by whale oil lamps in 5th –order Fresnel lens.
1858 Light fueled by newly installed gas line.
1866 Benjamin Greenwood, age 21 assumes duties as keeper.
1900 Gas replaced by mineral oil.
1903 Keeper Greenwood dies, having raised 14 children with two wives at lighthouse.
1919 Acetylene gas replaces oil; characteristic changed to flashing white.
1926 Skeletal steel tower with flashing red light constructed near shoreline. Lighthouse turned over to the Mt. Vernon Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).
1934 Station automated.
1936 U.S. Army Signal corps establishes secret radio station, forcing last keeper, Mrs. McMahan to leave. Station falls into disrepair.
1961 Skeletal tower deactivated when nearby Woodrow Wilson Bridge completed. Lighthouse deterioration continues.
1964 National Park Service (NPS) signs agreement with DAR and establishes Jones Point Park.
1980 Lighthouse placed on National Register of Historic Places.
1986 DAR signs agreement with NPS to restore LH as an interpretative museum.
1993 A fixed white installed.
1995 Light becomes private aid to navigation; 155 mm lens added.
2003 Hurricane Isabel damages steps & lower portion of lighthouse.
2007-2008 Chesapeake Chapter (USLHS) restores two Fresnel lenses.
2011- 2012 NPS does extensive renovations to park and lighthouse.
Source: Bay Beacons by Linda Turbyville, Lighthouses and Lifesaving Stations of Virginia by Patrick Evans-Hylton and Lighthouse Directory – http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/lighthouse/va.htm
