Hooper Strait Light is one of four surviving

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...

screw-pile lighthouses in the U.S. state of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Originally located in Hooper Strait, between Hooper and Bloodsworth Islands in Dorchester County and at the entrance to Tangier Sound, it is now an exhibit at the

Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is located in St. Michaels, Maryland, St. Michaels, Maryland, United States and is home to a collection of Chesapeake Bay Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, exhibitions, and Watercraft, vessels. This interacti ...

St. Michaels, Maryland Saint Michaels, also known as St. Michaels, is a town in Talbot County, Maryland, United States. The population was 1,029 at the 2010 census. Saint Michaels derives its name from the Episcopal Parish established there in 1677. The church attra ...

History

Lightships were stationed at this site beginning in 1827, including one destroyed by confederate forces during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. In 1867 a square screw-pile structure was erected. It survived only ten years; in January 1877 ice tore the house loose and sent it floating down the bay. The keeper John S. Cornwell and his assistant barely escaped using one of the light's boats, and were trapped on the ice for 24 hours before being rescued. In spite of frostbite, Cornwell said that "should there be another house erected, or a boat placed in the site of the old one, Capt. Conway is assistantand myself will be ready to take charge of it Lighthouse tenders sent after the sunken house located it some five miles (8 km) south of the strait and were able to salvage the lens, lamp, and fog bell. A new light was erected at the same location in 1879, another screw-pile light of the then typical hexagonal form, with the house being prefabricated at the Lazarretto Point depot. John Cornwell did in fact become the first keeper of the new light. In 1882 a red sector was fitted. This light remained manned until 1954, at which point it was automated and the house boarded up. In the 1960s the Coast Guard had taken to removing the houses from the old screw-pile lights in order to cut maintenance costs and avoid vandalism; a skeleton tower would then be erected on the old foundation. The Hooper Strait Light was slated to be so treated in 1966, but the newly founded

arranged with the Historical Society of Talbot County and the federal government to have the light moved to its campus instead. The light was sliced in half at its eaves, and the two pieces of the house were barged to St. Michaels, where they were reassembled on a newly constructed foundation on Navy Point. This was the first successful preservation effort of its kind in the bay, laying a precedent for the removal and preservation of the

Drum Point Drum Point is a census-designated place (CDP) in southern Calvert County, Maryland, United States, at the confluence of the Patuxent River with Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located ...

and Seven Foot Knoll lights. The light remains a showpiece of the museum and a landmark on the St. Michaels waterfront.

References

*
Hooper Strait Lighthouse
from the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society
Hooper Strait Lighthouse
at lighthousefriends.com *

External links

at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum website *

{{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1867 Lighthouses in Maryland Houses in Talbot County, Maryland Transportation buildings and structures in Talbot County, Maryland Saint Michaels, Maryland Lighthouses in the Chesapeake Bay 1867 establishments in Maryland Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum Transportation buildings and structures in Dorchester County, Maryland