Screwpiles: The Forgotten Lighthouses

Selected Lighthouses on Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina Waters There were over a hundred screwpile lighthouses built in the Chesapeake Bay and along the East Coast sounds and rivers between 1855 and 1900. The list below represents just a portion of masonry, screwpile, and caisson beacons built in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. Thomas Point Shoal , MD 1825 and 1838 – Stone lighthouses brought down by erosion 1875 – Screwpile light built 1986 – Automated navigational aid maintained by the U . S . Coast Guard Entrance to Severn River, MD – The last unaltered screwpile cottage-type lighthouse on its original foundation in the Chesapeake Bay. Shared ownership and maintenance by C ity of Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Annapolis Maritime Museum , and the Chesapeake C hapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.

Tue Marshes , VA

1875 – a.k.a. Too Marshes 1826 – Lightship “M” 1855 – One of first three s crewpile l ighthouses on the James River 1834 – Three separate lightships 1821 – 1861 – Two l ightships were burned and sunk b y Confederates

1960 – Deactivated

Steel tower replaced cottage 1955 – Deactivated and r eplaced by an automated tower 1934 – Deactivated

On s outhern s hore entrance to York River. Was a square foundation with unique gingerbread trim on the gables . Pasquotank River Entrance Light – Roanoke Marshes and Wade Point houses fell off of the same barge while being moved by a private party in Pasquotank River James River , approaching Pagan River from Newport News – Structure outlasted all other lighthouses on the James River . I ce floes carried away the cottage structure in 1977. North e ntrance to Rappahannock R iver 1861 – 1863 – N o navigational aids after Confederate forces sunk, destroyed , or removed lightship **Chesapeake Bay in V irginia – Wolf Trap Shoal , 7 .5 miles northeast of New Point Comfort Light between Mobjack Bay and Piankatank River

Wade Point , NC

1855 – Screwpile light was burned in 1862 …rebuilt 1899 1871 – Rebuilt in hexagonal design ; replaces original square

White Shoal , VA

1869 – Screwpile lighthouse built

1954 – Automated 1965 – Dismantled 1894 – R eplaced by c aisson - style lighthouse

Windmill Point , VA Wolf Trap Light , VA Named after the 1691 s inking of H.M.S. Wolf Caisson Light Newport News Middle Ground , VA Wooden Tower Jordan Point , VA

1870 – Screwpile light installed 1893 – Ice flo e s took it off iron foundation

1960 – H ouse removed ; a utomated light

Marks long shoal paralleling the main channel into the York Rive r eight miles into the Chesapeake Bay

York Spit Light , VA 1853 – Lightships 1870 – Screwpile replaced lightships

Circular i ron c onstruction

1881

“ Round spark plug caisson”

1954 – Automated

**In Hampton Roads…on north side of Craney Island F lats . Auctioned in 2005 and is now privately owned .

1875 – Replaced with pyramidal wooden tower

Jordan Point near Appomattox River. The Jordan Point light was one of four early navigational aids on the James River leading to Richmond. Steel towers are part of Jordan Point Range l ights.

1855 – Keeper’s house with masthead light

1927 – Abandoned ; r eplaced with two steel towers

†Virginia Landmarks Register

** Listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places

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