Jordan Point Light
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Jordan Point Light | |
|---|---|
 1885 photograph of second Jordan Point Light (USCG) |
|
| Location: | Jordan Point on the south bank of the James River |
| Coordinates WGS-84 (GPS) |
(approx.) |
| Year first lit: | 1856/1875(1870?) |
| Deactivated: | 1927 |
| Construction: | wood |
| Tower shape: | tower on house; freestanding tower |
| Height: | 35 ft |
| Original lens: | sixth-order Fresnel lens |
The Jordan Point Light was a lighthouse located on Jordan Point on the James River in Virginia, near the south end of the present Benjamin Harrison Memorial Bridge.
[edit] History
The history of this station is confused at points, but it appears that a light was first constructed on the point in 1855. This consisted of a keeper's house with a masthead light on the roof. Erosion at the point threatened this building, and it was torn down in 1875 (or possibly 1870) and replaced with a pyramidal wooden tower. New separate keeper's quarters were built in 1888.
Erosion continued to eat away at the projecting point, and in 1927 the whole station was abandoned. In 1941 a new skeleton tower was erected at the site of the old tower; this tower is still in service as the rear light of the Jordan Point Range.
[edit] References
- Virginia Light Stations, from the United States Coast Guard
- Jordan Point Light, from the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society
- de Gast, Robert (1973). The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 150
