Sandy Point Shoal Light is a brick three story

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 ...

on a caisson foundation that was erected in 1883. It lies about off Sandy Point, north of the

Chesapeake Bay Bridge The Chesapeake Bay Bridge (also known locally as the Bay Bridge) is a major twin bridges, dual-span bridge in the U.S. state of Maryland. Spanning the Chesapeake Bay, it connects the state's rural Eastern Shore of Maryland, Eastern Shore regio ...

, from whose westbound span it is readily visible. The current light replaced a brick tower on the point itself, integral to the keeper's house, which was erected in 1857. By 1874 the Lighthouse Board complained that the extent of the shoal and the poor equipment of the lighthouse made a new light necessary; appropriations were not forthcoming, however, until 1882. The whole gamut of light sources has been run, from oil wicks to incandescent oil vapor (1913) to electricity (1929). The characteristic changed from flashing to fixed and back to flashing along with the change in light source. The present light is powered by a pair of

solar panel A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...

s attached to the roof on the south side. After automation in 1963, the light became subject to vandalism due to its visibility and its accessibility. The original lens was destroyed in 1979, apparently smashed with a baseball bat. Though the Coast Guard made efforts at maintaining and restoring the structure from 1988 to 1990, it continued to deteriorate. In 2006 it was sold at auction to a private bidder, after an unsuccessful attempt to find a non-profit group to take responsibility for the light. The Coast Guard continued to maintain the navigation aids until June 2019, when the light was discontinued due to the deterioration of the privately owned supporting structure. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Sandy Point Shoal Light Station on December 2, 2002.

Notes

References

Sandy Point Shoal, MD
at lighthousefriends.com

from the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society *

External links

*, including photo from 1991, at Maryland Historical Trust {{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1883 Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Anne Arundel County, Maryland Lighthouses in Anne Arundel County, Maryland 1883 establishments in Maryland