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Cove Point marks the northern entrance to the Patuxent River
from the Chesapeake. In 1828, $5685 was appropriated to
build a lighthouse, and a 4.5-acre site was acquired.
John Donahoo was contracted to construct the light.
Donahoo's tower was 38 feet in height, built of brick, and painted white.
Eleven lamps with 18-inch reflectors illuminated the tower.
A 34- by 20- foot stone building housed the keepers. A fog bell
was installed in 1834.
The station evolved considerably during the nineteenth century.
In 1855, a fifth-order Fresnel lens was installed. This was
upgraded to fourth-order in 1897. A new fog bell tower was also
installed that year (and subsequently replaced with the current
fog building in 1901). In 1883 the roof was removed from the small
keeper's dwelling and a second story added. To combat the never-ending
threat of erosion, a seawall was built in 1892. The lamps were electrified
in 1897. The rest of the station received electricity by 1907.
A Maritime Exchange Tower was built around 1900. The signal
tower was used when keepers were required to report
vessel activity to the Baltimore Chamber of Commerce, using one
of the first phones in Calvert County.
Under the Coast Guard, the light was manned by three guardsmen and their
families. The station consisted of the tower, keeper's dwelling (enlarged
again in 1925), 1901 fog signal building, generator/radio station building,
and additional living quarters. The tower was encased in concrete in 1953.
The light was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
In 1986, the light was automated and monitored from Baltimore. The residences
remained in use by the Coast Guard. The fog signal was discontinued in 2002.
A fence was built around the property to discourage vandals.
In 2000, the Calvert Marine Museum became the steward of the lighthouse.
The museum offers tours of the lighthouse grounds from shuttles that
leave from the museum. All the Coast Guard structures are still present.
The Coast Guard Auxiliary operates a radio station
from the generator/radio station building on weekends. The active light
remains the oldest continuously operating lighthouse in Maryland - still
lit by its fourth-order lens.
Curiously, the light is listed as being obscured from
40 to 110 degrees. This is not due to a physical obstruction,
but due to the Coast Guard's response to a complaint
from a local woman that the light shone directly into her
bedroom at night. To accommodate the woman, the Coast
Guard placed a curtain in the tower at the position to block
the light out of her bedroom.
Bay Beacons, Turbyville pp. 56-59
The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake, de Gast p. 75
Lighting the Bay: Tales of Chesapeake Lighthouses, Vojtech pp. 162-163
Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses, Roberts and Jones p. 65
Cove Point Lighthouse flyer, Calvert Marine Museum
The Keeper's Log Summer 1003, Spring 2004
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