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Sharps Island was, in 1675,
an island of approximately 700 acres
south off Tilghman Island, MD. The island was named after
one of its 18th century owners, Dr. Peter Sharp.
In 1837 10 acres of land was purchased on the island to
build a lighthouse, and $5000 appropriated to its
construction. The small lighthouse was a wooden house
with a lantern on the roof.
The 1837 light was destined to be lost to erosion.
By 1848, the island had shrunk to 438 acres. The lighthouse
was moved inland to postpone the inevitable. In 1855,
a fifth-order Fresnel lens was installed. By 1865,
the bay reached a corner of the lighthouse, as it did in
1848. At this point, the Lighthouse Board reported that
the lighthouse's destruction was imminent.
A screwpile lighthouse was built in 1866-1867.
The location is subject to heavy ice floes, and
the new lighthouse was threatened by ice from its inception.
Cast-iron braces were damaged during ice floes of
1877-1879. Finally, on February 10, 1881, Keepers Butler
and Tarr were awakened by a huge ice floe that broke
the screwpile cottage from its foundation. For 16 hours
the cottage drifted five miles until it ran aground
in Paw Paw Cove on Tilghman Island. The keepers
salvaged many of the station supplies, including
the lens. The Lighthouse Board commented that the keepers'
"conduct is highly recommended."
In 1882, a new caisson light marked what was left of Sharps
Island. The caisson, filled with concrete, stood 30 feet
high. A 37-foot iron tower was built on the caisson.
The light housed a fourth-order Fresnel lens.
Sharps Island continued to erode.
A Baltimore shoe manufacturer,
Milton Creighton, had built a resort and hotel
on the island in the 19th century.
By 1900, Sharps Island had shrunk to 94 acres.
The hotel eventually met the same fate as the rest
of the island, and succumbed to erosion.
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