The Nansemond River Light was a

screwpile lighthouse A screw-pile lighthouse is a lighthouse which stands on piles that are screwed into sandy or muddy sea or river bottoms. The first screw-pile lighthouse to begin construction was built by the blind Irish engineer Alexander Mitchell. Constructio ...

located at the confluence of the

Nansemond The Nansemond are the indigenous people of the Nansemond River, a 20-mile long tributary of the James River in Virginia. Nansemond people lived in settlements on both sides of the Nansemond River where they fished (with the name "Nansemond" meanin ...

and

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

rivers in

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 ...

History

This light was erected in 1878 to mark the east side of the entrance to the

Nansemond River The Nansemond River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the James River in Virginia in the United States. Virginian colonists named the river ...

. Some parts were recycled from the old

Roanoke Marshes Light Roanoke Marshes Light was a screw-pile lighthouse in North Carolina. History Little is recorded about this light, which was replaced in 1955 with an automated light on a shorter tower. It marks the south entrance to the channel through Croatan ...

, which had been replaced the previous year. Little of note is recorded about this light, though in 1915 the keeper was cited for recovering a woman's wristwatch dropped overboard. The light was an early victim of automation in 1935, and in the late 1980s the whole structure was removed, leaving no trace of the light to be seen.

Notes

References

*
Nansemond River Light
from the Chesapeake Chapter of the

United States Lighthouse Society The United States Lighthouse Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to aiding in the restoration of American lighthouses and educating the public about their history. With four chapters, and more than a dozen affiliates, it is one of the ...

* * {{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1878 Lighthouses in Virginia James River (Virginia) Buildings and structures in Suffolk, Virginia Lighthouses in the Chesapeake Bay