(Located at the end of a long shoal on the north side of the entrance to the Rappahannock River, VA – 03/31/18)
1834 First Lightship at location.
1869 Last lightship on site. White hexagonal cottage screw pile built at Lazaretto Depot in Baltimore. Towed on two schooners to site 120 miles south. Fitted with 5th-order Fresnel lens.
1899-1903 John Filmore Hudgins serves as Keeper.
1905 1,000 tons of riprap stone deposited around base.
1907 Charles Edwin Respess begins Keeper duty.
1915 Tragedy occurs when Keeper Respess drowns while on a small skiff bound for home on Barn Creek at Gwynn’s Island during a storm.
1917-1918 Ice floes damage screw piles and braces.
1921 Repairs made.
1947 Floyd Earl Crewe serves as Keeper.
1953-1954 Charles Linwood Sadler serves as Assistant Keeper.
1954 Automation. Keeper Crewe assists in decommissioning and leaves.
1965 Lighthouse dismantled by contractors hired by Coast Guard. Wooden sections of lighthouse sold to local resident – Dr. Wallace Atwood. Atwood’s plan to rebuild lighthouse on his Windmill Point Marina property and use as a rental home never materialize.
1965 34-foot tall square skeletal tower with red and white diamond-shaped daymark panels, flashing white light and fog bell erected on remaining foundation.
2008 The remaining screwpile foundation is removed, and a new foundation is installed for the new light.
Source: Bay Beacons by Linda Turbyville, Lighting the Bay- Tales of Chesapeake Lighthouses by Pat Vojtech and Robert J. Hurry, registrar, Calvert Marine Museum.
