Baltimore Harbor Light

Baltimore Harbor Light
	Baltimore Light being fitted with a radioisotope thermoelectric generator on May 20, 1964, making it the first and only nuclear-powered lighthouse in the United States. In the background is the NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered merchant vessel.
Location	Entrance to the Magothy River, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland
Coordinates	39°03′33″N76°23′56″W / 39.05919°N 76.399°W
Tower
Foundation	Pneumatic caisson sunk into seabed
Construction	Brick
Automated	1964
Shape	Octagonal
Markings	White with brown base
Heritage	National Register of Historic Places listed place
Fog signal	none
Light
First lit	1908
Focal height	52 ft (16 m)
Lens	Fifth order Fresnel lens
Range	White 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi); Red 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi)
Characteristic	; Flashing white 2.5 sec, with one red sector
	Baltimore Light Station
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Gibson Island, Maryland
Area	less than one acre
Built	1908
Built by	Flaherty, William H.; Lande, Frederick Martin, et al
MPS	Light Stations of the United States MPS
NRHP reference No.	02001417
Added to NRHP	December 2, 2002

Last updated October 13, 2023

The Baltimore Harbor Light, officially Baltimore Light and historically Baltimore Harbor Lighthouse is a privately owned caisson lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.^[2]^[3]^[4] First lit in 1908, it sits at the mouth of the Magothy River, marking the channel which leads northwest to the opening of the Patapsco River, which then leads into the Baltimore harbor. The light is located adjacent to the mouth of the Magothy River. At the time of its construction, it was the world's tallest caisson lighthouse due to the deep sediment of its location. It was the world's first nuclear powered lighthouse for a brief time in the 1960s.

History

Although a lighthouse had been requested at the site since 1890, it was not until 1904 that construction actually began. In October of that year a violent storm struck the construction site, upturning the caisson and sending it to the bottom of the Bay. The contractor defaulted on the work, and it was not until late in 1905 that construction could resume. The lens was finally installed and the light lit in 1908. It was the last lighthouse to be constructed on the Chesapeake.^[4]

In May 1964, the Baltimore Light became the world's first, and only American lighthouse, powered by nuclear power, as a test of the SNAP-7B 60 Watt radioisotope thermoelectric generator. One year later the RTG was removed and a conventional electric generator was installed.^[5] Currently the lighthouse is solar-powered.

The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Baltimore Light Station on December 2, 2002.^[1]

In June 2006, Baltimore Light was sold at auction to private owners by the General Services Administration for $260,000; the U.S. Coast Guard maintains rights to operate a light on the structure.^[6] The new owner, BHL, LLC of Annapolis, was a partnership of private citizens, 4 couples.^[7] The terms of sale dictate that the Coast Guard be granted access to the lighthouse for occasional checkups on the still-active light.^[7] BHL created a web site, which went offline in the summer of 2023, the current status of the lighthouse is unknown.

Notes

1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
↑ "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. 76.
1 2 Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of the United States: Maryland". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
↑ "Coast Guard Lighthouses". Archived from the original on 2008-10-08.
↑ Ralph E. Eshelman (March 1996). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Baltimore Light Station" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
1 2 "Baltimore Lighthouse". Lighthouse Friends. Retrieved 2023-01-01.

Related Research Articles

United States lightship Chesapeake (LS-116/WAL-538/WLV-538) is a museum ship owned by the National Park Service and on a 25-year loan to Baltimore City, and is operated by Historic Ships in Baltimore Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. A National Historic Landmark, she is one of a small number of preserved lightships. Since 1820, several lightships have served at the Chesapeake lightship station and have been called Chesapeake. Lightships were initially lettered in the early 1800s, but then numbered as they were often moved from one light station to another. The name painted on the side of lightships was the short name of the Light Station they were assigned to and was the daytime visual aspect of the many Aids to Navigation on board lightships. The United States Coast Guard assigned new hull numbers to all lightships still in service in April 1950. After that date, Light Ship 116 was then known by the new Coast Guard Hull number: WAL-538. In January 1965 the Coast Guard further modified all lightship hull designations from WAL to WLV, so Chesapeake became WLV-538.

The Seven Foot Knoll Light was built in 1855 and is the oldest screw-pile lighthouse in Maryland. It was located atop Seven Foot Knoll in the Chesapeake Bay until it was replaced by a modern navigational aid and relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor as a museum exhibit.

Butler Flats Light is a sparkplug lighthouse located in the outer harbor of New Bedford, Massachusetts, at the mouth of the Acushnet River. Built in 1898 by the United States Lighthouse Board, it is the only known caisson lighthouse designed by a marine architect. The light was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Butler Flats Light Station on June 15, 1987. Automated in 1978, it is now operated by the city as a private aid to navigation.

The Thomas Point Shoal Light, also known as Thomas Point Shoal Light Station, is a historic lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay on the east coast of the United States, and the most recognized lighthouse in Maryland. It is the only screw-pile lighthouse in the bay which stands at its original site. The current structure is a 1½ story hexagonal wooden cottage, equipped with a foghorn as well as the light.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point No Point Light (Maryland)</span> Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

Point No Point Light, located in the Chesapeake Bay off the eponymous point several miles north of the mouth of the Potomac River, was constructed as part of a program to add lighted navigational aids in a thirty-mile stretch of the bay between Cove and Smith Points.

The Piney Point Lighthouse was built in 1836 located at Piney Point on the Potomac River in Maryland just up the river from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The Coast Guard decommissioned it in 1964 and it has since become a museum. It is known as the Lighthouse of Presidents because several early US Presidents visited or stayed on the grounds.

Concord Point Light is a 36-foot (11 m) lighthouse in Havre de Grace, Maryland. It overlooks the point where Susquehanna River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, an area of increasing navigational traffic when it was constructed in 1827. It is the northernmost lighthouse and the second-oldest tower lighthouse still standing on the bay.

The Craighill Channel Lower Range Front Light, named for William Price Craighill, was the first caisson lighthouse built in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, USA. First lit in 1873, the range marks the first leg of the maintained Craighill Channel from the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Patapsco River into the Baltimore harbor and works in conjunction with the Craighill Channel Lower Range Rear Light. It was owned by non-profit organization Historical Place Preservation, Inc. from 2005 until the government took back the property in 2017 due to neglect. The lighthouse was put up for auction and sold to the highest bidder on September 15 2017 for $95,000.

Newport News Middle Ground Light is a lighthouse near the Monitor–Merrimac Memorial Bridge–Tunnel (MMMBT) on Interstate 664 in Hampton Roads. It is the oldest caisson lighthouse in Virginia.

The Sharps Island Light is the third lighthouse to stand nearly 3 miles (5 km) south-southwest from the southern end of Tilghman Island in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay. The structure is best known today for evoking the Leaning Tower of Pisa, a condition caused by an ice floe in 1977.

Sandy Point Shoal Light is a brick three story lighthouse on a caisson foundation that was erected in 1883. It lies about 0.6 mi (0.97 km) off Sandy Point, north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, from whose westbound span it is readily visible.

The Turkey Point Light is a historic lighthouse at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. Although only a 35-foot (11 m) tower, the 100-foot (30 m) height of the bluffs on which it stands makes it the third highest light off the water in the bay. It is also known for the large number of women who served as lightkeeper.

Pooles Island Light is the oldest lighthouse still standing in Maryland and the fourth oldest in the Chesapeake Bay area. The light is located on Pooles Island in the central Chesapeake Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hooper Island Light</span> Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

The Hooper Island Light is a lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay, west of Middle Hooper Island in Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craighill Channel Lower Range Rear Light</span> Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

The Craighill Channel Lower Range Rear Light is one of a pair of range lights that marks the first section of the shipping channel into Baltimore harbor. It is the tallest lighthouse in Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craighill Channel Upper Range Rear Light</span> Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

The Craighill Channel Upper Range Rear Light is one of a pair of range lights that marks the second section of the shipping channel into Baltimore harbor.

The Craighill Channel Upper Range Front Light is one of a pair of range lights that marks the second section of the shipping channel into Baltimore harbor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolf Trap Light</span> Lighthouse in Virginia, United States

Wolf Trap Light is a caisson lighthouse in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay, about seven and a half miles northeast of New Point Comfort Light. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thimble Shoal Light</span> Lighthouse in Virginia, United States

Thimble Shoal Light is a sparkplug lighthouse in the Virginia portion of Chesapeake Bay, north of the Hampton Roads channel. The third light at this location, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Smith Point Light is a caisson lighthouse in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Potomac River. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

References

Baltimore Harbor Lighthouse, from the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society.
de Gast, Robert (1973). The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 86–89.

External links

Media related to Baltimore Harbor Light at Wikimedia Commons

Baltimore Light Station, Anne Arundel County, including photo from 1991, at Maryland Historical Trust
Baltimore Harbor Light. New owners as of 2006. Website dead as of Summer 2023.
Chesapeake Bay Lighthouse Project - Baltimore Light

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Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[nris-1] 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.

[uscghist-2] "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Maryland" (PDF). United States Coast Guard Historian's Office.

[uscgll-3] Light List, Volume II, Atlantic Coast, Shrewsbury River, New Jersey to Little River, South Carolina (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard. 2012. p. 76.

[rowlett-4] 1 2 Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of the United States: Maryland". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

[5] "Coast Guard Lighthouses". Archived from the original on 2008-10-08.

[mht_ihp-6] Ralph E. Eshelman (March 1996). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Baltimore Light Station" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved 2016-01-01.

[LHF-7] 1 2 "Baltimore Lighthouse". Lighthouse Friends. Retrieved 2023-01-01.

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v t e Baltimore Harbor approaches
Craighill Channel (lower)	Baltimore Light Front Range Light Rear Range Light
Upper Craighill Channel (cutoff)	Seven Foot Knoll Light Front Range Light Rear Range Light
Brewerton Channel	Hawkins Point Light (front range) Leading Point Light (rear range)
Marylandportal

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Maryland
Topics	Contributing property Keeper of the Register Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Property types
Lists by county	Allegany Anne Arundel Baltimore County Calvert Caroline Carroll Cecil Charles Dorchester Frederick Garrett Harford Howard Kent Montgomery Prince George's Queen Anne's Somerset St. Mary's Talbot Washington Wicomico Worcester
Lists by city	Baltimore: (Central North and Northwest West and Southwest East and Northeast South and Southeast)
Other lists	Bridges National Historic Landmarks
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Portal:National Register of Historic Places

v t e Lighthouses of Maryland
Main: List of lighthouses in the United States
Baltimore Harbor Light Blakistone Island Light Bloody Point Bar Light Bodkin Island Light Cedar Point Light Choptank River Light Clay Island Light Cobb Point Bar Light Concord Point Light Cove Point Light Craighill Channel Lower Range Front Light Craighill Channel Lower Range Rear Light Craighill Channel Upper Range Front Light Craighill Channel Upper Range Rear Light Drum Point Light Fishing Battery Light Fog Point Light Fort Carroll Light Fort Washington Light Great Shoals Light Greenbury Point Light Hawkins Point Light Holland Island Bar Light Hooper Island Light Hooper Strait Light Janes Island Light Lazaretto Point Light Leading Point Light Love Point Light Lower Cedar Point Light Maryland Point Light Mathias Point Light North Point Range Lights Piney Point Light Point Lookout Light Point No Point Light Pooles Island Light Ragged Point Light Sandy Point Shoal Light Seven Foot Knoll Light Sharkfin Shoal Light Sharps Island Light Solomons Lump Light Somers Cove Light Thomas Point Shoal Light Triton Light Turkey Point Light Upper Cedar Point Light