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Chesapeake Bay Area Lights


  • Concord Point Light

    Concord Point Light

  • Fishing Battery Light

    Fishing Battery Light

  • Turkey Point Light

    Turkey Point Light

  • Pooles Island Light

    Pooles Island Light

  • Seven Foot Knoll Light

    Seven Foot Knoll Light

  • Lightship Chesapeake

    Lightship Chesapeake

  • Fort Carroll Light

    Fort Carroll Light

  • Craighill Channel Range Lights

    Craighill Channel Range Lights

  • Baltimore Light

    Baltimore Light

  • Sandy Point Shoal Light

    Sandy Point Shoal Light

  • Thomas Point Shoal Light

    Thomas Point Shoal Light

  • Bloody Point Bar Light

    Bloody Point Bar Light

  • Hooper Strait Light

    Hooper Strait Light

  • Sharps Island Light

    Sharps Island Light

  • Cove Point Light

    Cove Point Light

  • Drum Point Light

    Drum Point Light

  • Hooper Island Light

    Hooper Island Light

  • Point No Point Light

    Point No Point Light

  • Solomons Lump Light

    Solomons Lump Light

  • Fort Washington Light

    Fort Washington Light

  • Piney Point Light

    Piney Point Light

  • Point Lookout Light

    Point Lookout Light

  • Jones Point Light

    Jones Point Light

  • Smith Point Light

    Smith Point Light

  • Wolf Trap Light

    Wolf Trap Light

  • New Point Comfort Light

    New Point Comfort Light

  • Thimble Shoal Light

    Thimble Shoal Light

  • Old Point Comfort Light

    Old Point Comfort Light

  • Newport News Middle Ground Light

    Newport News Middle Ground Light

  • Old Cape Henry Light

    Old Cape Henry Light

  • New Cape Henry Light

    New Cape Henry Light

  • Cape Charles Light

    Cape Charles Light


The Chesapeake Bay has been an important avenue for American Commerce since pre-colonial days. This was particularly true in the age before railways and roads when water was the most efficient means of mass transport. Althouth it is fed by approximately 65 rivers in total, the 150+ mile long Chesapeake Bay is basically the sunken river valley of the Susquehanna River. Apart from a deep channel running up its center, the Bay is relatively shallow and has many shoals which pose a hazard to navigation. Marking these hazards was critical not only for the safety of people and boats, but also for the growth of the economy. Up until the 20th century manned lighthouses represented the most technologically advanced and effective aids to navigation.

Of the 82 lighthouses that once marked the Chesapeake Bay, 32 are still standing along with 1 lightship. These pages include background material, photographs and descriptions of all of the surviving lights as well as those on the Atlantic Ocean side of the Delmarva Penninsula. They are ordered north to south, followed by the non-Chesapeake Bay lights.


Copyright © 1999 - 2011 Matthew B. Jenkins, All rights reserved.  |  Privacy