Thomas Point Shoal Light
The Thomas Point Shoal Light, also known as Thomas Point Shoal Light Station, is a historic
History
A stone lighthouse was constructed in 1825 on shore at Thomas Point[3] by John Donahoo, Thomas Point Light. It was replaced in 1838 by another stone tower. The point was subject to continuing erosion (which would eventually bring down the lighthouse on the point in 1894),[6] and in 1873 Congress appropriated $20,000 for the construction of a screw-pile structure out in the bay, Thomas Point Shoal Light . With an additional $15,000 appropriation in 1875, the light was built and activated in November of that year.[6] It took 30 workers to set each cast iron beam 12 ft (3.7 m) into the Chesapeake Bay's bottom.[7]
Ice was a perpetual threat to screw-pile lights on the Chesapeake, and in 1877 the original lens was destroyed when it toppled by shaking from ice floes. This lens was replaced, and the additional piles and riprap were placed around the foundation in order to protect it. By 1964 it was the last manned light in the Chesapeake Bay, and it was not automated until 1986. It is currently the last unaltered screwpile cottage-type lighthouse on its original foundation in the Chesapeake Bay.
Preservation
Concerns for its preservation brought it a National Register of Historic Places listing in 1975[1] and National Historic Landmark status in 1999.[2][8]
In 2004, ownership of the lighthouse passed to the city of
The United States Coast Guard continues to maintain the navigational aids at the Lighthouse. The lighthouse keeper's former living quarters are open to the public three months out of the year, through boat tours departing from Annapolis, organized by the U.S. Lighthouse Society.[9] Tickets are purchased on their web site.
References
- ^ a b c "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b "Thomas Point Shoal Light Station". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
- ^ a b "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Maryland" (PDF). United States Coast Guard Historian's Office.
- ^ Light List, Volume II, Atlantic Coast, Shrewsbury River, New Jersey to Little River, South Carolina (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard. 2012. p. 74.
- ^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of the United States: Maryland". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- ^ a b c "Thomas Point Shoal Light". Inventory of Historic Light Stations. National Park Service. December 27, 2005. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
- ^ Baltimore Sun. p. 2.
- ^ Ralph Eshelman and Candace Clifford (January 1998). "National Historic Landmark Nomination: Thomas Point Shoal Light Station" (pdf). National Park Service.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) and Accompanying two photos, exterior, from 1885 and 1990 (139 KB) - ^ "Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse". Archived from the original on October 22, 2007. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
Sources
- "Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse: History". Archived from the original on June 28, 2007. Retrieved April 7, 2007.
- Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse - from Lighthousefriends.com
- de Gast, Robert (1973). The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 79.
External links
- Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse
- The Light in the Bay
- U.S. Lighthouse Society
- Chesapeake Bay Lighthouse Project - Thomas Point Shoal Light
- Thomas Point Shoal Light, Anne Arundel County, including photo from 1993, at Maryland Historical Trust
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