Ragged Point Light
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| Ragged Point Light | |
|---|---|
 undated photograph of Ragged Point Light (USCG) |
|
| Location: | off Ragged Point in the Potomac River between Piney Point Light and St. Clements Island |
| Coordinates WGS-84 (GPS) |
|
| Year first lit: | 1910 |
| Deactivated: | 1962 |
| Foundation: | screw-pile |
| Construction: | cast-iron/wood |
| Tower shape: | hexagonal house |
| Original lens: | fourth-order Fresnel lens |
The Ragged Point Light was a screw-pile lighthouse located in the Potomac River. It was the last lighthouse built in Maryland waters and the last built at a location in the Chesapeake Bay.
[edit] History
The first request for a light at Ragged Point was made in 1896; funds were not appropriated, however, until 1906, and construction did not begin until an additional $5000 was appropriated. Construction finally began in 1910, and the light was commissioned in March of that year. It was the last lighthouse erected in Maryland.
In the early 1960s the light was strafed by planes on a training mission from the Patuxent Naval Air Station. The keepers were able to wave off the pilots, who had thought the light vacant. In 1962 the house was dismantled and a tower constructed on the old foundation.
[edit] References
- Maryland Light Stations, from the United States Coast Guard website
- Ragged 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. 157
