Sandy Point Shoal Light

Not to be confused with Sandy Point Light.

Sandy Point Shoal Light
1885 photograph of Sandy Point Light (USCG)

Location	off Sandy Point near the west end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge
Coordinates	39°0′57.6″N 76°23′4.5″W / 39.016000°N 76.384583°W / 39.016000; -76.384583Coordinates: 39°0′57.6″N 76°23′4.5″W / 39.016000°N 76.384583°W / 39.016000; -76.384583
Year first constructed	1883
Year first lit	1883
Automated	1963
Foundation	caisson
Construction	brick/wood-frame
Tower shape	octagonal mansard roof house
Markings / pattern	Red brick with white roof and brown foundation
Focal height	51 feet (16 m)
Original lens	fourth-order Fresnel lens
Current lens	solar-powered
Range	9 nautical miles (17 km; 10 mi)
Characteristic	Flashing white 6 sec
Fog signal	none
Admiralty number	J2214
ARLHS number	USA-733
USCG number	2-7990 ^[1] ^[2] ^[3]

Sandy Point Shoal Light Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Skidmore, Maryland
Area	less than one acre
MPS	Light Stations of the United States MPS
NRHP Reference #	02001424^[4]
Added to NRHP	December 2, 2002

Sandy Point Shoal Light is a brick three story lighthouse on a caisson foundation that was erected in 1883.^[1] It lies about 0.6 mi (0.97 km) off Sandy Point, north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, from whose westbound span it is readily visible.

The current light replaced a brick tower on the point itself, integral to the keeper's house, which was erected in 1857. By 1874 the Lighthouse Board complained that the extent of the shoal and the poor equipment of the lighthouse made a new light necessary; appropriations were not forthcoming, however, until 1882. The whole gamut of light sources has been run, from oil wicks to incandescent oil vapor (1913) to electricity (1929). The characteristic changed from flashing to fixed and back to flashing along with the change in light source. The present light is powered by a pair of solar panels attached to the roof on the south side.^[5]

After automation in 1963, the light became subject to vandalism due to its visibility and its accessibility. The original lens was destroyed in 1979, apparently smashed with a baseball bat.^[1] Though the Coast Guard made efforts at maintaining and restoring the structure from 1988 to 1990, it continued to deteriorate. In 2006 it was sold at auction to a private bidder, after an unsuccessful attempt to find a non-profit group to take responsibility for the light. The Coast Guard continues to maintain the navigation aids. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Sandy Point Shoal Light Station on December 2, 2002.^[4]

Notes

1 2 3 "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Maryland". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office.
↑ Light List, Volume II, Atlantic Coast, Shrewsbury River, New Jersey to Little River, South Carolina (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard. 2012. p. 76.
↑ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of the United States: Maryland". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
1 2 Staff (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
↑ Ralph E. Eshelman (January 1996). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Sandy Point Shoal Light" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved 2016-01-01.

References

Sandy Point Shoal Light in July 1991

Sandy Point Shoal Light in 2015 from Sandy Point

Sandy Point Shoal, MD at lighthousefriends.com
Sandy Point Light from the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society
de Gast, Robert (1973). The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 83–86.
Chesapeake Bay Lighthouse Project - Sandy Point Shoal Light

External links

Sandy Point Shoal Light Station, Anne Arundel County, including photo from 1991, at Maryland Historical Trust

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sandy Point Shoal Light.

Lighthouses of Maryland

Baltimore Harbor Light Blakistone Island Light Bloody Point Bar Light Bodkin Island Light Cedar Point Light Choptank River Light Clay Island Light Cobb Point Bar Light Concord Point Light Cove Point Light Craighill Channel Lower Range Front Light Craighill Channel Lower Range Rear Light Craighill Channel Upper Range Front Light Craighill Channel Upper Range Rear Light Drum Point Light Fishing Battery Light Fog Point Light Fort Carroll Light Fort Washington Light Great Shoals Light Greenbury Point Light Hawkins Point Light Holland Island Bar Light Hooper Island Light Hooper Strait Light Janes Island Light Lazaretto Point Light Leading Point Light Love Point Light Lower Cedar Point Light Maryland Point Light Mathias Point Light North Point Range Lights Piney Point Light Point Lookout Light Point No Point Light Pooles Island Light Ragged Point Light Sandy Point Shoal Light Seven Foot Knoll Light Sharkfin Shoal Light Sharps Island Light Solomons Lump Light Somers Cove Light Thomas Point Shoal Light Triton Light Turkey Point Light Upper Cedar Point Light

U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Maryland

Topics	Contributing property Keeper of the Register Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Property types

Lists by county	Allegany Anne Arundel Baltimore County Calvert Caroline Carroll Cecil Charles Dorchester Frederick Garrett Harford Howard Kent Montgomery Prince George's Queen Anne's Somerset St. Mary's Talbot Washington Wicomico Worcester

Lists by city	Baltimore: (Central North and Northwest West and Southwest East and Northeast South and Southeast)

Other lists	Bridges National Historic Landmarks

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Portal:National Register of Historic Places

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