Type:
Year Established:
1828
Existing:
Yes
Source:
LL-1879
Download:
Cove Point MD 2009 by JCC copy.jpg (873.71 KB)
File Type:
jpg (image/jpeg)
Photo Date:
2009
Photo Credit:
Candace Clifford
Photo Courtesy of:
U.S. Lighthouse Society
Collection / Donor:
LOCATION
Location:
COVE POINT/PATUXENT RIVER ENTRANCE
Latitude:
38° 23.7'
Longitude:
76° 22.57'
City / Town:
LUSBY
U.S. State:
Maryland
Location County:
CALVERT
Country:
United States
OWNER & ACCESS
Owner / Manager:
Calvert Marine Museum
Open to Public:
Yes
STRUCTURE
Year Tower Established:
1828
Tower Construction Material:
BRICK W/CONCRETE COATING
Tower Foundation:
NATURAL/EMPLACED
Height of light above mean high water, in feet:
46
Height, in feet, from base of structure to center of lantern:
39
Tower Shape:
CONICAL
Fog Signal Building?:
Yes
Year Fog Signal Building Constructed:
1904
Fog Signal Bldg Construction Materials:
BRICK
Keeper's Quarters?:
Yes
Keeper's Quarters Style:
VERNACULAR DUPLEX
Keeper's Quarters Construction:
BRICK
Other Structures:
2ND DWELLING, BELL TOWER, ATTACHED KITCHEN
OPTICS
Current Optic:
FOURTH ORDER, FRESNEL
Original Optic Type:
13 OIL LAMPS AND REFLECTORS
Year Original Lens Installed:
1855
Private Aid:
Yes
Year Automated:
1986
USCG Access to Optics:
Yes
Entered by:
Entered Date:
Jul 20, 2017
1855 FIFTH ORDER FRESNEL LENS INSTALLED, UPGRADED IN 1857 TO FOURTH ORDER
Cove Point Light Station -
Historic Significance: High. Third oldest extant lighthouse in Maryland after Pooles Island Lighthouse (1825 ruins), and Concord Point Lighthouse (1827). The Bodkin Island Lighthouse (1822), North Point Range Lights (1822), first Thomas Point Shoals Lighthouse (1825), and Fog Point Lighthouse (1827), are all demolished. Cove Point Lighthouse is the oldest operational lighthouse in Maryland. It may be the oldest brick tower on the Chesapeake Bay (Cape Henry first lighthouse is sandstone, Pooles Island and Concord Point lighthouses are both stone, and the first Thomas Point lighthouse was probably stone). Cove Point is among the first brick lighthouse towers built in the United States; earlier ones include: Bald Head Lighthouse (1817), North Carolina; Sapelo Island Lighthouse (1820), Georgia; and Franks Island Lighthouse (1822), Louisiana. Amelia Island Lighthouse (1817), Florida, was moved in 1838 from Great Cumberland Island, Georgia, so its date of construction is more properly 1838.
Historic Integrity: Moderate. The 1899 classic lens is intact; the tower was raised about 13-feet circa 1912. The roof of the keeper’s house was raised in 1883 to add another story, and then enlarged into a duplex by at least 1928. The 1901 fog signal building is relatively unaltered. The setting is little changed except for an offshore Columbia Liquid Natural Gas terminal.