The Baltimore Harbor Light, officially Baltimore Light and historically Baltimore Harbor Lighthouse is a privately owned caisson lighthouse in the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. First lit in 1908, it sits at the mouth of the

Magothy River The Magothy River runs U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 through Anne Arundel County in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is located south of the Patapsco River ...

, marking the channel which leads northwest to the opening of the

Patapsco River The Patapsco River ( ) mainstem is a river in central Maryland that flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The river's tidal portion forms the harbor for the city of Baltimore. With its South Branch, the Patapsco forms the northern border of Howar ...

, which then leads into the

Baltimore harbor The Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore is a shipping port along the tidal basins of the three branches of the Patapsco River in Baltimore, Maryland, on the upper northwest shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It is the nation's largest port facil ...

. The light is located adjacent to the mouth of the

. At the time of its construction, it was the world's tallest caisson lighthouse due to the deep sediment of its location. It was the world's first nuclear powered lighthouse for a brief time in the 1960s.

History

Although a lighthouse had been requested at the site since 1890, it was not until 1904 that construction actually began. In October of that year a violent storm struck the construction site, upturning the caisson and sending it to the bottom of the Bay. The contractor defaulted on the work, and it was not until late in 1905 that construction could resume. The lens was finally installed and the light lit in 1908. It was the last lighthouse to be constructed on the Chesapeake. In May 1964, the Baltimore Light became the world's first, and only American lighthouse, powered by nuclear power, as a test of the SNAP-7B 60 Watt

radioisotope thermoelectric generator A radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG, RITEG), or radioisotope power system (RPS), is a type of nuclear battery that uses an array of thermocouples to convert the Decay heat, heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactive material i ...

. One year later the RTG was removed and a conventional electric generator was installed. Currently the lighthouse is

solar-power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to conve ...

ed. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Baltimore Light Station on December 2, 2002. In June 2006, Baltimore Light was sold at auction to private owners by the

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. G ...

for $260,000; the U.S. Coast Guard maintains rights to operate a light on the structure. The new owner, BHL, LLC of Annapolis, was a partnership of private citizens, 4 couples. The terms of sale dictate that the Coast Guard be granted access to the lighthouse for occasional checkups on the still-active light. BHL created a website with history and other information about the lighthouse.

Notes

References

Baltimore Harbor Lighthouse
from the Chesapeake Chapter of the

United States Lighthouse Society The United States Lighthouse Society (USLHS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to aiding in the restoration of American lighthouses and educating the public about their history. With four chapters, and more than a dozen affiliates, it is one ...

. *

External links

Baltimore Lighthouse
Official website of BHL, LLC *, including photo from 1991, at Maryland Historical Trust

{{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1908 Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Lighthouses in Anne Arundel County, Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Anne Arundel County, Maryland 1908 establishments in Maryland Brick buildings and structures in Maryland