A Living Lighthouse Legacy
Mention "lighthouse" and most people picture the classic stone-tower edifice standing sentinel along a craggy, wave-tossed coast. But another type, the screwpile lighthouse, in its own way is just as picturesque and evocative. Hexagonal or octagonal, hovering above the water atop long steel pilings, a screwpile lighthouse looks like the ultimate kid's fantasy tree-fort on stilts. In a region—the Chesapeake Bay—where screwpiles once reigned supreme, now only one remains on active station, the last of the breed still serving as a bay beacon as it has for more than 130 years.
The Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse—one of just nine lighthouses in America to be designated a National Historic Landmark—is undergoing an ambitious restoration and has opened to visitors. Of course, a visit requires a half-hour boat ride from the mainland, but that only adds to the adventure.
Built in 1875, it was manned by lighthouse keepers until 1986, when it became the last on the bay to convert to automation. In its continuing duty as an aid to navigation, the Thomas Point Light is run by the U.S. Coast Guard; the tower's powerful lens projects light to an 11-mile range. Meanwhile, the venerable outpost also serves as a weather station for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Its latest role, that of tourist destination, began with a successful inaugural season in the summer of 2007. As word spreads, lighthouse-tour organizers anticipate filled-boat bookings in the upcoming 2008 season as well.
A quartet of entities—the City of Annapolis, the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society, the Annapolis Maritime Museum, and Anne Arundel County, Maryland—united in 2004 under the auspices of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act to restore, preserve, and maintain the lighthouse. Once the first phase—foundation restoration and other structural repairs—was completed, the lighthouse opened to the public. Thanks to grants, donations, and a dedicated corps of about 50 volunteers, the work continues at Thomas Point and should be finished within the next two to three years, said lighthouse manager Henry Gonzalez.
Visitors in the meantime will see the work in progress. The lighthouse has great bones, and is filled with the aura of more than a century's memories. But the interiors have a way to go. Touring it from deck to deck is like finding that old house that's a dream home beneath the cosmetic aging—a fixer-upper with golden potential.
It's a fine example of its type. Irish engineer Alexander Mitchell invented the screwpile lighthouse, the first of which was built at the mouth of the River Thames in 1838. Mitchell's celebrated screwpile invention, intended to solve construction problems on muddy banks and in shallow water areas with soft beds, was a boon to bridge, breakwater, and lighthouse construction from Bombay to the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake was an ideal natural setting for the screwpile lighthouse, and 44 of them were erected there between 1854 and 1910. A mere handful remain, and Thomas Point is the only one of the survivors that hasn't been deactivated and relocated.
The nautical devotee visiting the Annapolis area will enjoy the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse tour—but one mustn't mind the slightly roughing-it aspects of the outing. The boat ride there and back might be through choppy waters, depending on the bay's mood that day. There is some ladder-scaling involved once the destination is reached. And the restroom undoubtedly should be visited before embarking on the expedition, for there are no such accommodations either on the boat or currently at the lighthouse itself. With orientation, the boat ride, the docent-guided tour of the lighthouse, and the ride back, it will feel like a full day's exploring packed into three hours.
The 2008 tour season kicks off on 17 May and will run on every other weekend through September (a total of 10 weekends). Three tours daily are offered on the relevant Saturdays and Sundays at 0900, 1200, and 1500. The maximum contingent per tour is 18; participants must be at least 12 years old and 4 feet tall.
The tours depart from the Annapolis Maritime Museum, located in Eastport, the community across the harbor from the City Dock area. The museum's Barge House is home to the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse Interpretive Center, where pretour safety check-in and orientation are held. Cost of the tour is $70, and reservations are required; for bookings, call 800-690-5080, and view the center's Web site at www.thomaspointlighthouse.org.