Leading Point Light

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Leading Point Light

Undated photograph of Leading Point Light (USCG)
Location: Leading Point west of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on the south bank of the Patapsco River
Coordinates
WGS-84 (GPS)
39.2137° N 76.5518° W
Year first lit: 1868
Deactivated: 1924
Construction: brick
Tower shape: house with lantern/daymark on roof
Height: 34 ft

The Leading Point Light was an unusual lighthouse which displayed the rear light to the Brewerton Channel Range. It was eventually superseded by an iron tower on the same foundation.

[edit] History

This light was built in 1868, along with the Hawkins Point Light, to provide range lights marking the Brewerton Channel, excavated in the 1850s to provide a fixed deepwater channel into Baltimore Harbor. In form, it was like no other lighthouse in the area, a brick house with a short tower holding the lantern surmounted with a tall pole supporting a large ball, to be used as a daymark.

In 1924 both lights in this range were torn down and replaced with skeleton towers, which remain in use.

[edit] References