Chesapeake Bay Lights

By the turn of the century, sixty-eight lighthouses stretched across the Chesapeake to provide a safe passage for ships. Today only 34 original lighthouses out of 106 built, remain on the Chesapeake. Fortunately, every type of lighthouses built on the bay are still represented. The first lighthouses were conical towers of stone or brick with a detached dwelling for the keeper. An example is the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse. Another example is where the light is built on top of the keeper's dwelling. A third style was a small wooden structure with a detached dwelling. Pile lighthouses were introduced to the Bay, this allowed lighthouses to be built over water in the Chesapeake. The most typical pile was the screw pile. Ice began to damage many of these, a fifth style emerged on the Bay, the caisson lighthouse. The sixth style is the cast-iron. The new Cape Henry Light is an example of this.

The Assateague Lighthouse is the first lighthouse I ever visited. It is located on Assateague Island, Virginia. This historic lighthouse was built in 1867 and is maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard. The first lighthouse on this site was a 45 foot high stone tower that proved inadequate. The present 142 foot high structure is one of nearly 20 other tall historic brick lighthouses still functioning along the Atlantic coast today.

The next lighthouse is Cape Henry in Virginia Beach, Va. The distinctive patterning of this lighthouse is typical of many lighthouses. Lighthouses were often painted 2 contrasting colors in order to be more easily seen. Black and white were favored along the southern shores. It was built in 1881 and automated in 1984. This lighthouse is a 150 foot iron tower with a spiral staircase containing 227 steps. In 1923 it became the first lighthouse on the Bay to be equipped with a radio fog-signal device. The light today can be seen 19 miles out to sea.

The Old Cape Henry Lighthouse is one of the old lighthouses that were built of stone or brick with a detached building for the keeper. The lighthouse was built in 1791-92 at the southern entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. It was the Chesapeake's first lighthouse and the first lighthouse built by the new federal government. The light was damaged in 1861 and was temporarily put out of service by Confederates during the Civil War, but the Union repaired the damage and lighted the lamp.

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