Hooper Strait Light

Last updated
Hooper Strait Light
Hooper Strait Light, St. Michaels, Maryland.jpg
Undated photograph of Hooper Strait Light (USCG)
Hooper Strait Light
LocationOriginally in Hooper Strait north of Bloodsworth Island in the Chesapeake Bay; relocated to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
Coordinates 38°13′36″N76°04′32″W / 38.2267°N 76.0756°W / 38.2267; -76.0756 (original);
38°47′15″N76°13′09″W / 38.7875°N 76.2192°W / 38.7875; -76.2192 (current)
Tower
Foundation screw-pile
Construction cast-iron/wood
Shapehexagonal house
Light
First lit1867
Automated1954
Deactivated1966
Lensfifth-order Fresnel lens

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.

Contents

History

Lightships were stationed at this site beginning in 1827, including one destroyed by confederate forces during the Civil War. In 1867 a square screw-pile structure was erected. It survived only ten years; in January 1877 ice tore the house loose and sent it floating down the bay. The keeper John S. Cornwell and his assistant barely escaped using one of the light's boats, and were trapped on the ice for 24 hours before being rescued. In spite of frostbite, Cornwell said that "should there be another house erected, or a boat placed in the site of the old one, Capt. Conway [his assistant] and myself will be ready to take charge of it[.]" Lighthouse tenders sent after the sunken house located it some five miles (8 km) south of the strait and were able to salvage the lens, lamp, and fog bell.

A new light was erected at the same location in 1879, another screw-pile light of the then typical hexagonal form, with the house being prefabricated at the Lazarretto Point depot. John Cornwell did in fact become the first keeper of the new light. In 1882 a red sector was fitted. This light remained manned until 1954, at which point it was automated and the house boarded up.

In the 1960s the Coast Guard had taken to removing the houses from the old screw-pile lights in order to cut maintenance costs and avoid vandalism; a skeleton tower would then be erected on the old foundation. The Hooper Strait Light was slated to be so treated in 1966, but the newly founded Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum arranged with the Historical Society of Talbot County and the federal government to have the light moved to its campus instead. The light was sliced in half at its eaves, and the two pieces of the house were barged to St. Michaels, where they were reassembled on a newly constructed foundation on Navy Point. This was the first successful preservation effort of its kind in the bay, laying a precedent for the removal and preservation of the Drum Point and Seven Foot Knoll lights. The light remains a showpiece of the museum and a landmark on the St. Michaels waterfront.

Related Research Articles

Screw-pile lighthouse

A screw-pile lighthouse is a lighthouse which stands on piles that are screwed into sandy or muddy sea or river bottoms. The first screw-pile lighthouse to begin construction was built by the blind Irish engineer Alexander Mitchell. Construction began in 1838 at the mouth of the Thames and was known as the Maplin Sands lighthouse, and first lit in 1841. However, though its construction began later, the Wyre Light in Fleetwood, Lancashire, was the first to be lit.

Seven Foot Knoll Light Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

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.

Thomas Point Shoal Light Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

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.

Holland Island Bar Light Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

The Holland Island Bar Light was a screw-pile lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay which existed from 1889 to 1960. It is remembered for the unexplained death of one of its keepers, and for being "attacked" by United States Navy pilots during a training exercise.

Solomons Lump Light Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

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.

Bloody Point Bar Light Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

Bloody Point Bar Light is an early sparkplug lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay near Kent Island, Maryland.

Choptank River Light Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

The Choptank River Light was a screw-pile lighthouse located near Oxford, Maryland. In its second incarnation it was the only such light moved from another location in the Chesapeake Bay.

Ragged Point Light Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

The Ragged Point Light was a screw-pile lighthouse located in the Potomac River. It was the last lighthouse built in Maryland waters and the last built at a location in the Chesapeake Bay.

Greenbury Point Light Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

Greenbury Point Light was the name of two lighthouses in the Chesapeake Bay, both located at the mouth of the Severn River in Annapolis, Maryland.

Love Point Light Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

Love Point Light was a screw-pile lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay, off the northern end of Kent Island, Maryland.

Drum Point Light Lighthouse in Maryland, United States

Drum Point Light is one of four surviving Chesapeake Bay screw-pile lighthouses. Originally located off Drum Point at the mouth of the Patuxent River, it is now an exhibit at the Calvert Marine Museum.

The Janes Island Light was a screw-pile lighthouse located near Crisfield in the U.S. state of Maryland. Twice destroyed by ice, it was replaced in 1935 with an automated beacon.

Craighill Channel Lower Range Rear Light 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.

The Hawkins Point Light was an unusual screw-pile lighthouse which displayed the front light to the Brewerton Channel Range. It was eventually superseded by an iron tower on the same foundation.

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.

New Point Comfort Light Lighthouse in Virginia, United States

New Point Comfort Light is a lighthouse in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay, United States, off the tip of the Middle Peninsula. Finished in 1804, it is the third-oldest surviving light in the bay, and the tenth-oldest in the United States.

Thimble Shoal Light 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.

Tangier Sound Light Lighthouse in Virginia, United States

The Tangier Sound Light was a lighthouse located south of Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay.

Smith Point Light Lighthouse in Virginia, United States

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.

Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum

The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is located in St. Michaels, Maryland, United States and is home to a collection of Chesapeake Bay artifacts, exhibitions, and vessels. This 18-acre (73,000 m2) interactive museum was founded in 1965 on Navy Point, once a site of seafood packing houses, docks, and work boats. Today, the Museum houses the world's largest collection of Chesapeake Bay boats and provides interactive exhibits in and around the 35 buildings which dot the campus. The Museum also offers year-round educational seminars and workshops.

References