Location | 4 mi west of Middle Hooper Island in the Chesapeake Bay |
---|---|
Coordinates | 38°15′22.5″N76°14′59.3″W / 38.256250°N 76.249806°W Coordinates: 38°15′22.5″N76°14′59.3″W / 38.256250°N 76.249806°W |
Tower | |
Constructed | 1902 |
Foundation | Pneumatic caisson |
Construction | iron |
Automated | 1961 |
Height | 10.5 m (34 ft) |
Shape | round "sparkplug" tower |
Markings | White on brown base |
Heritage | National Register of Historic Places listed place |
Fog signal | Horn, 1 every 30 seconds Operated continuously from Sept. 15 to June 1 |
Light | |
First lit | 1902 |
Focal height | 63 feet (19 m) |
Lens | fourth-order Fresnel lens (original), solar-powered (current) |
Range | 9 nautical miles (17 km; 10 mi) |
Characteristic | Flashing White, 6 seconds |
Hooper Island Light Station | |
Nearest city | Hooperville, Maryland |
Area | less than one acre |
MPS | Light Stations of the United States MPS |
NRHP reference No. | 02001426 [1] |
Added to NRHP | December 2, 2002 |
The Hooper Island Light is a lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay, west of Middle Hooper Island in Maryland. [2] [3] [4]
The initial request of a light at this site was made in 1897, but construction was delayed until 1901 after the Variety Iron Works Company failed to deliver materials in time. Unlike earlier caisson lights in the bay, the foundation was placed using the pneumatic process, in which the caisson is kept under pressure to expel water, and the interior is excavated to bring the cylinder down to the desired depth. [3]
The tower is taller than other Maryland sparkplug lights because of the provision for a watch room as well as a lantern atop the tower, the only example in the state. A fog bell was originally housed on the lower gallery but was later moved to the watch room level, a backup to the fog horn added in the 1930s. The characteristic was changed several times through the years, with different patterns of flashes and eclipses. [5]
Along with many other Chesapeake Bay lights, automation came in the early 1960s. In 1976 the original fourth-order Fresnel lens was stolen, and it was replaced with a solar-power lamp. [3]
The lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 2, 2002 as Hooper Island Light Station. The structure was officially turned over to the U.S. Lighthouse Society in June 2009, but the light remains active.
Located in the northeast corner of a U.S. Navy "danger zone", overnight occupation of the lighthouse is prohibited, per agreement between the GSA and the U.S. Navy's Naval Air Systems Command. [6]
In 2022, the General Services Administration announced that the lighthouse was put up for auction with a minimum bidding price of $15,000. [2] [6] Will Powell a GSA spokesman, explained the difficulties of auctioning off the property to include no docking facility for boats, as well as no water, sewage, electricity or gas. [6] According to Powell, an additional challenge to a prospective bidder is the requirement to maintain the lighthouse in accordance with specific rules governing structures on the National Register of Historic Places. [6]
The lighthouse sold for $192,000 on September 22, 2022.
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.
The Baltimore Harbor Light, officially Baltimore Light and historically Baltimore Harbor Lighthouse is a privately owned caisson lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. 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. 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.
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.
Orient Point Light is a sparkplug lighthouse off Orient Point, New York in Plum Gut of Long Island Sound – the deep and narrow gap between Orient Point and Plum Island. It was built in 1899 and was automated in 1954. The lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
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 has been owned by non-profit organization Historical Place Preservation, Inc. since 2005.
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.
Solomons Lump Light is a lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay, the abbreviated remains of a caisson light built in 1895. That structure replaced a screw-pile light built on the same spot in 1875, which in turn superseded the Fog Point Light.
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.
The Cove Point Light is a lighthouse located on the west side of Chesapeake Bay in Calvert County, Maryland.
Hooper Strait Light is one of four surviving Chesapeake Bay screw-pile lighthouses in the U.S. state of Maryland. Originally located in Hooper Strait, between Hooper and Bloodsworth Islands in Dorchester County and at the entrance to Tangier Sound, it is now an exhibit at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland.
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.
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.
The National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 is American legislation creating a process for the transfer of federally owned lighthouses into private hands. It was created as an extension of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.
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.
Borden Flats Light is a historic lighthouse on the Taunton River in Fall River, Massachusetts, US. It is a tower-on-caisson type known as a sparkplug lighthouse.
West Bank Light, officially West Bank Front Range Light, is a lighthouse in Lower New York Bay, within New York City, and acts as the front range light for the Ambrose Channel. It is currently active and not open to the public. The tower was built in 1901 and heightened in 1908. Staten Island Light serves as the rearrange.
Old Orchard Shoal Light was a sparkplug lighthouse in lower New York Bay marking a large shoal area. It was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012.