Blakistone Island Light

Infobox Lighthouse

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caption = 1928 photograph of Blackistone Island Light, taken from the south (USCG)
location = Southern point of present day Saint Clement's Island in the Potomac River
coordinates = coord|38.2074|N|76.7449|W|type:landmark
yearlit = 1851
automated = 1932
yeardeactivated = 1956
foundation =
construction = wood
shape = keeper's house with lantern on roof
height =
lens =
currentlens =
range =
characteristic =
status = destroyed by fire

The Blackistone Island Light was a lighthouse located on what is now St. Clement's Island on the Potomac River in Maryland. It is best known as the target of a Confederate raid in the Civil War.

History

Congress appropriated $3,500 for the construction of a lighthouse on the island in 1848; John Donahoo was awarded the contract, which cost $4,535. He designed an integral lighthouse, a two-story brick keeper's dwelling with a tower through its center, which sat on a two-acre plot at the southern tip of the island. Construction was completed, and the light lit, in 1851.

The lighthouse, like many in the South, was a target for Confederate raiders. In 1864, CSA Captain John Goldsmith, a former owner of the island, led a party which destroyed the lighthouse lens and confiscated the oil used to light it; the group then declared its intent to destroy the structure. Keeper Jerome McWilliams, an acquaintance of the Captain's, succeeded in convincing the men not to destroy the light because his wife was pregnant; he argued that destroying the family home would leave both her and the baby vulnerable.

The United States Navy purchased the island in 1919 and razed most structures on it, leaving only the lighthouse and building piers and a landing strip. The light was automated in 1932 and left unattended, gradually decaying over the next twenty years. Fire gutted the structure on July 16, 1956; to this day, the cause of the blaze is uncertain, but many suspect that a stray artillery round fired from the proving ground at Dahlgren, Virginia, may have been to blame. In any event, the Navy viewed the shell as a hazard and ordered it razed.

The St. Clements Hundred preservation group has begun reconstructing the lighthouse, along with the State of Maryland, private donations, and the help of many volunteers.

ee also

* [http://www.cheslights.org/heritage/blakistone.htm Chesapeake Chapter, USLHS page]
* [http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHMD.asp History at Coast Guard website]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042002454.html?nav=emailpage Washington Post Article By Megan Greenwell Sunday, April 22, 2007]