Location | Piney Point in St. Marys County, Maryland, about 13 miles from the mouth of the Potomac River |
---|---|
Coordinates | 38°08′08″N76°31′47″W / 38.1355°N 76.5297°W |
Tower | |
Constructed | 1836 |
Construction | brick/masonry |
Height | 34 ft (10 m) |
Shape | conical tower |
Heritage | National Register of Historic Places listed place |
Light | |
First lit | 1836 |
Deactivated | 1964 |
Lens | fifth-order Fresnel lens |
Piney Point Coast Guard Light Station | |
Nearest city | Piney Point, Maryland |
Area | 2 acres (0.81 ha) |
Built by | John Donahoo |
NRHP reference No. | 76002171 [1] |
Added to NRHP | June 16, 1976 |
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. [2] [3] 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. [4]
Congress appropriated $5000 to build the lighthouse in 1836. The lighthouse was built by John Donahoo and had a range of 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi). The lamp was replaced in 1855 with a Fresnel lens upgrading the range to 11 nautical miles (20 km; 13 mi).
A bell tower was added in 1880 and was in service until 1954 when Hurricane Hazel damaged it beyond repair.
The federal government deeded the property to St. Mary's County in 1980 and in 1990 the Museum Division of St. Mary's County Department of Recreation and Parks began to renovate the grounds.
Exhibits at the Piney Point Lighthouse Museum focus on the lighthouse, the United States Coast Guard, the Piney Point area, and the story of the Black Panther U-1105 German submarine sunk in the Potomac that now serves as a shipwreck dive preserve.
The Potomac River Maritime Exhibit displays four historic wooden vessels in a separate building.
Visitors can climb the lighthouse tower when the museum is open for operation.
The nearby Piney Point Elementary School in Tall Timbers, Maryland is named after the lighthouse.
St. Mary's County, established in 1637, is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 113,777. Its county seat is Leonardtown. The name is in honor of Mary, the mother of Jesus. St. Mary's County comprises the California-Lexington Park, Maryland Metropolitan Statistical Area, which also is included in the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area. It is part of the Southern Maryland region. The county was the home to the first Maryland Colony, and the first capital of the Colony of Maryland. Settled by English Catholics, it is considered to be the birthplace of religious freedom in North America, at a time when the British colonies were settled primarily by Protestants. The county is home to the Patuxent River Naval Air Station and St. Mary's College of Maryland. Traditionally, St. Mary's County has been known for its unique and historic culture of Chesapeake Bay tidewater farming, fishing, and crabbing communities. But with the advent of the military bases, growth of an extensive defense contractor presence, and the growth of St. Mary's College of Maryland, as well as increasing numbers of long-distance Washington, D.C. commuters, it has been undergoing a decades-long transformation which has seen the county's population double since 1970.
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.
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Sand Hills was an active lighthouse on the shore of Lake Superior is on private property and is currently closed to the public. It is located in Ahmeek in Keweenaw County in the Keweenaw Peninsula, which is the northern part of the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
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.
The Cove Point Light is a lighthouse located on the west side of Chesapeake Bay in Calvert County, Maryland.
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