The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers 64,299 square miles (166,534 km2) in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. More than 150 rivers and streams drain into the bay.
The Cove Point Light was built in 1828 by John Donahoo, who erected a brick conical tower along the plan he had used at several other sites in the Bay. In 1825 Congress had allocated funds to build a light at Cedar Point, four miles south at the mouth of the Patuxent River, but further consideration led to a decision to mark Cove Point and the shoal which jutted into the bay. A new appropriation in 1828 allowed construction of the light and keeper's house in the same year. The keepers remained until 1986 when the light was finally automated. Cove Point remains an active aid to navigation and is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the Chesapeake Bay.
The Seven Foot Knoll Light was built in 1855 and is the oldest screw-pile lighthouse in Maryland. It was initially installed on a shallow shoal, Seven Foot Knoll, at the mouth of the Patapsco River. The northern reach of this river is the Baltimore Harbor, where the now-decommissioned lighthouse has been placed as a museum. The light was automated in 1949, and fell into disrepair, eventually being supplanted by the usual skeleton tower. In 1988, the lighthouse was removed from Seven Foot Knoll, carried by barge, and placed ashore in Baltimore's Inner Harbor where it was donated to the city. On August 22, 1989 the lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Concord Point Light is a lighthouse in Havre de Grace, Maryland, overlooking the point where the Susquehanna River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, an area of increasing navigational traffic at the time it was constructed in 1827. It was built by John Donahoo who built many lighthouses in Maryland. It is the Northern-most lighthouse on the Chesapeake Bay. Concord Point Light is a 36-foot (10.97 m) tower that was built in 1827. It is the second oldest tower lighthouse still standing on the Chesapeake Bay. The lighthouse is constructed of Port Deposit granite. The walls are 31 inches (79 cm) thick at the base and narrow to 18 inches (46 cm) at the parapet. The lighthouse was automated in 1920. The lighthouse was decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1975 and soon after that the lens was stolen. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
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 Hooper Strait Light was slated to be so treated in 1966.
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. A stone lighthouse was constructed in 1825 on shore at Thomas Point by John Donahoo. It was replaced in 1838 by another stone tower. By 1964 it was the last manned light in the Chesapeake Bay, and it was not automated until 1986. Concerns for its preservation brought it National Register of Historic Places listing in 1975, to be succeeded by National Historic Landmark status in 1999.
Received: January 13, 2011
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