Cedar Point Light

Infobox Lighthouse


caption =
location = Cedar Point at the mouth of the Patuxent River
coordinates = coord|38.2992|N|76.3860|W|type:landmark
yearlit = 1896
automated =
yeardeactivated = 1920
foundation =
construction = brick
shape = House with tower on roof
height = 45 ft
lens = fourth-order Fresnel lens
currentlens =
range = 7 mi
characteristic = 5 sec red flash
status = ruins; some elements moved to museums The Cedar Point Light was the last house-type lighthouse built in the Chesapeake Bay. An early victim of shoreline erosion, the cupola and gables are preserved at museums.

This light should not be confused with Upper Cedar Point Light or Lower Cedar Point Light, both of which stood in the Potomac River.

History

Cedar Point did not receive a light until 1896, based upon an 1888 request from the lighthouse board and an appropriation in 1894. A two story brick house was constructed with an attached tower, by far the latest example of such construction on the Chesapeake Bay. Erosion at the point was exacerbated by dredging for sand nearby, and in the 1920s the light sat on a tiny island, leading to its abandonment in 1928 in favor of a beacon. This beacon was eventually abandoned as well in the mid 1950s, leaving on a buoy in deeper water off the point. The land at the point was acquired by the United States Navy in 1958.

The lighthouse was declared eligible for the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and three years later the cupola was removed and taken to the base museum at the Patuxent Naval Air Station. Demolition was approved, and the heavily damaged remains were dismantled in 1996, with the gables and some bricks sent to the Calvert Marine Museum for the construction of a pavilion. Only some of the foundation remains at the original site.

References

* [http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHMD.asp Maryland Light Stations] , from the United States Coast Guard website
* [http://www.cheslights.org/heritage/cedarpt.htm Cedar Point Light] , from the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society
*cite book
last= de Gast
first= Robert
title= The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake
year= 1973
publisher= Johns Hopkins University Press pp. 66-69