Tue Marshes Lighthouse

Originally called “Too’s Marshes” the Tue Marshes Lighthouse was built in 1875 on the southern shore entrance to the York River on the Goodwin Islands. Built at a price of $15,000, it was a square white screwpile lighthouse with a brown roof, set on a wrought-iron foundation. It was originally equipped with a sixth-order Fresnel lens exhibiting a fixed white light with a red sector, first exhibited for the first time on August 15, 1875.

What made this structure unique from other screwpiles was the gingerbread woodwork details on the eaves of the roof and railing. There were also two additional fender piles, one on each of the ebb and flow sides of the structure for additional stability against ice flows.

In the late 1890s, the spelling of the name was changed to “Tue’s Marshes.”

The lighthouse was dismantled in 1960 and replaced with a steel skeletal tower built on the original foundation. In 2014, the Coast Guard announces the original screwpile foundation is no longer safe and should be removed. It is completely removed in 2015.

Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard.

Sources:
1. Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board, various years.
2. Forgotten Beacons, Patrick Hornberger & Linda Turbyville, 1997.
3. Lighthouse Friends website, accessed 4 January 2020

• Keeper Bio: Powell, Robert Franklin
• Keeper Bio: Hurst, James Beauregard
• Keeper Bio: Lee, Alexander G.
• Keeper Bio: Hunt, Thomas
• Keeper Bio: Bourbon, Dennis
• Keeper Bio: Sadler, Charles Franklin
• Timeline: Tue Marshes Lighthouse
• Keeper Bio: Sadler, Charles Linwood
• Tue Marshes Lighthouse

Head Keeper: Dixon Shinault (1875 – 1885), Lemuel M. Ironmonger (1885 – 1886), William S. Templeman (1886 – 1901), R.W. Marchant (1901), James B. Hurst (1901 – 1908), John F. Jarvis (1908 – at least 1925), Edward Linton (1924 – ), A.B. Hudgins (at least 1930), John M. Marchant (at least 1939 – 1943), Elmer M. Goodwin (1943 – )

First Assistant:  Charles W. Forrest (1875 – 1883), Dennis Bourbon (1883), Alexander G. Lee (1884), Thomas Hunt (1884 – 1885), William S. Templeman (1885 – 1886), T.B. Shield (1886), Arthur H. Shield (1887 – 1888), Henry G. Moss (1888 – 1890), Charles H. Brown (1890 – 1891), Elijah Irison (1891 – 1913), Robert F. Powell (at least 1915 – at least 1921), Bertrand H. Parkes (at least 1939 – 1943), Joseph T. Oliver (1942 – at least 1947), Charles L. Sadler (1953 – )

Second Assistant:  William L. Davidson (1938 – 1941), Flavel J. Mills (1942 – )

Updated 1/4/2020