The Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse located in Annapolis, MD, is a National Historic Landmark - one of only ten lighthouses in the country to be bestowed this highest honor – and the only unaltered screwpile lighthouse in the United States remaining attached to its original foundation.
Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard
An 1821 letter from William B. Barney, Naval Officer for the port of Baltimore, to Stephen Pleasonton of the U.S. Treasury, indicates the need for this lighthouse:
Many ship owners and seafaring men of respectability have frequently spoken to me on the subject of a light to be placed at the end of Thomas' Point bar, a few miles below Annapolis; which extends a considerable distance out into the Bay, cutting the direct track of vessels bound up or down; at the end of which from four feet, you instantly deepen to six and seven fathoms water. A light placed here, would be of as great utility as perhaps any one in the Chesapeake Bay.
By 1964 the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse was the last manned light in the Chesapeake Bay until it became fully automated in 1986. The United States Coast Guard continues to maintain the navigational aids.
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I love lighthouses. This one is a beauty, so thanks for sharing. Here in the West, our lighthouses tend to cling to rocks and cliffs -- quite different. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat lighthouse picture! Like Joan, I love lighthouses, too, and my mom absolutely loves them, also. I know she's not seen this one, or I would remember her talking about it. She has painted (a picture of) one that was located near Aransas Pass, TX.
ReplyDeleteWe do love this lighthouse. We sail on the Chesapeake and this lighthouse is one of our usual turn around points.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely picture I have in my mind now, sails billowing in the wind, and turning around by the beautiful lighthouse...
ReplyDeleteNot too many lighthouses in Kansas....
Hi Terri!
ReplyDeleteI posted A Festival of Postcards (7th Ed.) earlier today here:
http://wp.me/pp92w-850
Your post is in the Lighthouse that closes the Festival with the Benjamin Franklin quotation.
Thank you so much for participating once again.
Evelyn in Montreal
A Canadian Family