Bodkin Island Light

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Bodkin Island Light
Bodkin Island Light after abandonment
Location:	Off Bodkin Point at the mouth of the Patapsco River
Year first lit:	1822
Deactivated:	1855
Construction:	masonry
Tower shape:	conical tower
Height:	35 ft

The Bodkin Island Light was a small lighthouse on the Chesapeake Bay, the first erected in Maryland.

[edit] History

The lighthouse was constructed as an aid to shipping entering Baltimore; it was built on Bodkin Island, and was the first lighthouse in Maryland. The station was built by Thomas Evans and William Coppeck, who completed the 35-foot stone tower and attached one-storey keeper's dwelling in October of 1821. Thirteen lamps were purchased from Winslow Lewis, and the station was formally inaugurated in January of 1822.

The lighthouse was plagued by problems stemming from its poor construction during much of its brief existence, and it was replaced in 1856 by the Seven Foot Knoll Light in the Patapsco River. A fisherman is said to have lived in the dwelling for a time, but eventually the island was completely abandoned; the old tower collapsed in 1914. Today, Bodkin Island has completely disappeared, eaten away by erosion. What remains of the site is marked as a "navigational hazard" on sea charts.