John Donahoo (sometimes spelled Donahoe) (1786–1858) was a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

builder active in

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 ...

for much of the first half of the nineteenth century. Little is known of Donahoo's life, but he appears to have been an active citizen in

Havre de Grace, Maryland Havre de Grace (), abbreviated HdG, is a city in Harford County, Maryland, Harford County, Maryland. It is situated at the mouth of the Susquehanna River and the head of Chesapeake Bay. It is named after the port city of Le Havre, France, which ...

, for much of his career; he was an election judge and town commissioner, and served on the school board. He was also an active businessman, with concerns in fishing and real estate. As a builder, Donahoo attracted the attention of Stephen Pleasonton, Fifth Auditor of the

United States Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

and overseer of lighthouse construction for the government; Donahoo's prices were low and the quality of his work was good. Consequently, he was awarded the contracts for a dozen lighthouses in Maryland and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. Seven of these still stand: *

Pooles Island Light Pooles Island Light is the oldest lighthouse still standing in Maryland and the fourth oldest in the Chesapeake Bay area. The light is located on Pooles Island in the central Chesapeake Bay. History Pooles Island was originally named Powell's ...

(1825) * Concord Point Light (1827) *

Cove Point Light The Cove Point Light is a lighthouse located on the west side of Chesapeake Bay in Calvert County, Maryland. History This light was built in 1828 by John Donahoo, who erected a brick conical tower along the plan he had used at several other site ...

(1828) *

Point Lookout Light Point Lookout Light is a lighthouse that marks the entrance to the Potomac River at the southernmost tip of Maryland's western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, south of the town of Scotland in Saint Mary's County, Maryland, USA. It is known for it ...

(1830) *

Turkey Point Light The Turkey Point Light is a historic lighthouse at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. Although only a tower, the height of the bluffs on which it stands makes it the third highest light off the water in the bay. It is also known for the large numbe ...

(1833) *

Piney Point Light The Piney Point Lighthouse was built in 1836 located at Piney Point on the Potomac River in Maryland just up the river from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The Coast Guard decommissioned it in 1964 and it has since become a museum. It is known a ...

(1836) * Fishing Battery Light (1853) He also constructed the following lighthouses: * Thomas Point Light (1825, replaced by a second stone tower in 1838) *

Fog Point Light The Fog Point Light was a historic lighthouse located at Fog Point, the northwestern tip of Smith Island, Maryland in the Chesapeake Bay. History This light was constructed in 1827 by John Donahoo to mark the entrance to the Kedges Strait north ...

(1827, superseded by the

Solomons Lump Light Solomons Lump Light is a lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay, the abbreviated remains of a caisson light built in 1895. That structure replaced a screw-pile light built on the same spot in 1875, which in turn superseded the Fog Point Light. Hist ...

in 1875) *

Lazaretto Point Light The Lazaretto Point Light was a historic lighthouse in Baltimore harbor. Though long demolished, a replica stands near its original site. History Lazaretto Point, directly opposite from Fort McHenry, acquired its name from a smallpox quarantine ...

(1831, demolished in 1926; replica built on original site in 1985) *

Clay Island Light The Clay Island Light was a historic lighthouse located on Clay Island at the mouth of the Nanticoke River on the Chesapeake Bay. Constructed in 1832, it continued to serve the area until 1892, when it was replaced by the Sharkfin Shoal Light. ...

(1832, collapsed in 1894 after deactivation) *

Watts Island Light The Watts Island Light was a historic lighthouse located near Watts Island in the Chesapeake Bay. It was the only lighthouse built by John Donahoo outside of Maryland. History The island on which this light stood was originally called Little Watt ...

(1833, destroyed in a storm in 1944) – this was his only light built outside of Maryland *

Blakistone Island Light 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. Completed in 1851, the structure was destroyed by f ...

(1851, destroyed by fire in 1956) Donahoo died in 1858, and was buried in Havre de Grace's

Angel Hill Cemetery Angel Hill Cemetery is a cemetery in Havre de Grace, Maryland. History Angel Hill Cemetery was incorporated on May 4, 1886. Later in 1886, an iron fence was built surrounding the cemetery. On July 4, 1900, a ten-foot granite monument was dedic ...

External links

* 1786 births 1858 deaths Lighthouse builders People from Havre de Grace, Maryland Architects from Maryland 19th-century American architects School board members in Maryland 19th-century American politicians {{pharology-stub, Donahoo, John