Piney Point Light
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The Piney Point Lighthouse was built in 1836 located at Piney Point on the
Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...
in
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 ...
just up the river from the mouth of 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 ...
. 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.


History

Congress appropriated $5000 to build the lighthouse in 1836. The lighthouse was built by John Donahoo and had a range of . The lamp was replaced in 1855 with a
Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens (optics), lens which reduces the amount of material required compared to a conventional lens by dividing the lens into a set of concentric annular sections. The simpler Dioptrics, d ...
upgrading the range to . A bell tower was added in 1880 and was in service until 1954 when
Hurricane Hazel Hurricane Hazel was the deadliest, second-costliest, and most intense hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed at least 469 people in Haiti before it struck the United States near the border between North and Sou ...
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 United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...
, 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.


See also

* List of maritime museums in the United States


Notes


References

* * *
Chesapeake Bay Lighthouse Project - Piney Point Light


External links

*, including photo from 2000, at Maryland Historical Trust {{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1836 Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Lighthouses in the Chesapeake Bay Lighthouse museums in Maryland Museums in St. Mary's County, Maryland 1836 establishments in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in St. Mary's County, Maryland Lighthouses in St. Mary's County, Maryland