Dutch Gap Canal Lights

Dutch Gap Canal Lights

Location	James River, Virginia
Coordinates	37°22′35.7″N 77°21′34.3″W / 37.376583°N 77.359528°W / 37.376583; -77.359528Coordinates: 37°22′35.7″N 77°21′34.3″W / 37.376583°N 77.359528°W / 37.376583; -77.359528
Year first constructed	1875 (first structures)
Year first lit	1878 (replaced with posts)
Deactivated	1910
Construction	Wood frame
Height	27 ft (8 m)
Original lens	Small oil lanterns
Characteristic	Fixed
Fog signal	none [1] [2]

The Dutch Gap Canal Lights were built to mark the ends of Dutch Gap Canal, now called Dutch Gap Cutoff^[2], which is a ¾ nm cut across the base of an oxbow in the James River between Hopewell and Richmond, Virginia. They were on Farrar's Island, on the south side of the river.^[1][2] The ox-bow is actually just to the west of Dutch Gap,^[2] which is now a conservation area.

The first two structures were small wood frame towers, together with a keeper's house, which were built in 1875. The second tower washed away in December 1878; the first had been lost earlier. Both were replaced by lights on posts. The keeper's house was threatened by erosion of the cliff and was moved inland in 1890.^[1]

In 1910 the lights were replaced by fixed lights. Their function survives, in modern form, as lights on skeleton towers, both with the characteristic Quick Flashing Green, numbers "151" and "155", Light List numbers 2-12705 and 2-12735.^[3] The coordinates shown are for light 151 which is actually in the river. The original light was on the bank to the south.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Virginia". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHVA.asp. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} NOAA Chart 12252 James River: Jordan Point to Richmond, 1/20,000 2004
3. ^ (PDF) Light List, Volume II, Atlantic Coast, Shrewsbury River, New Jersey to Little River, South Carolina. Light List. United States Coast Guard. 2009. p. 125. http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/lightLists/LightList%20V2.pdf.