Famed lighthouse accepting visitors

The Baltimore Sun

For generations, the hexagonal Victorian house on legs has stood in the water as an icon of the Chesapeake Bay, its beacon guiding mariners to safe waters.

Though the exterior image of the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse has graced no shortage of tchotchkes, its interior remained fogged in mystery. Until now.

Starting today, what experts say is the nation's last intact cottage-style "screw pile" lighthouse still at its original site - it was built over a platform screwed into the sandy bay bottom - is accepting its first visitors.

Three-hour tours guided by volunteer docents will run out of Annapolis, ferrying the curious 4 1/2 miles to the weathered lighthouse, which is midway through preservation work.

"It's the gem of the lighthouses on the Chesapeake Bay," said Henry Gonzales, vice president of the U.S. Lighthouse Society and manager of the lighthouse project. "Every time I go out there, I still get goose bumps. I see a 132-year-old structure that has survived so many years and so many storms."

The lighthouse warns sailors away from the dangerously shallow water, or shoal, around Thomas Point. On the western side of the lighthouse the water is only a few feet deep, but on the eastern side it plunges about 25 feet.

Unlike a modern beam on a stick, the lighthouse speaks to the romance of long-gone times when about 140 lighthouses dotted the bay, when their keepers rescued mariners, when the isolated outposts welcomed nothing more than an approaching supply boat to restock the pantry.

The lure, lighthouse lovers say, goes beyond an inside peek at the quirky house on the National Register of Historic Places. A visit, they insist, offers a grasp of the isolation of lighthouse workers who endured weeks at a time in the middle of the bay, and the technology that did away with their tasks of keeping the oil lamp aflame and hand-cranking the fog bell.

"Imagine, if you were in a storm, it would be extremely frightening out here. There would be howling winds, lots of creaks and lots of noise, choppy water," said C. Jane Cox, a cultural resources planner for Anne Arundel County who is part of the coalition preserving the lighthouse.

The lighthouse, the third on the site, stands 1 1/4 miles from Thomas Point Park on what's left of the land where the South River empties into the bay; its two predecessors were built on land that long since washed away.

It was built over a crisscrossed metal foundation called a pile, and literally bored into the floor of the bay in 1875 with what looked like long-stemmed corkscrews - a construction method designed by a blind British engineer, Alexander Mitchell.

The drawback to screw pile construction was ice. In 1881, ice shaved the Sharps Island lighthouse off its foundation, sending it and the keepers floating down the bay. Thomas Point survived an 1877 walloping from ice, but the storm broke the lens of the beacon. That led to the installation of two metal icebreakers 90 feet away and riprap closer to the beams.

Like others in the water, it was a "stag" lighthouse, too dangerous for women and children but fine for "wickies," as the men who kept its oil-fueled flame going were known, says Meg Govan of Annapolis, a docent.

About 7 feet up from the dock and under the cottage is a corral deck, which held livestock, wood and other supplies.

"If you wanted fresh eggs, you had to have your chickens out here," said docent Minnie Gallman of McLean, Va.

Fresh fish was readily available. Sea birds still drop leftovers on the decks that wrap each level.

Living quarters were close: The first floor is 800 square feet divided into a kitchen and three more wedge-shaped rooms, the second floor has two rooms, and the top holds little beyond the light.

The keeper always had an assistant or two, what with endless chores: keeping the light clean and aglow, adjusting the air intake for the fire, wiping away soot, evaluating choppy waters, estimating sight distance in fog and sounding alarms round-the-clock by hand when needed, watching for boats, and generally maintaining a weather-battered building along with one's sanity.

A 1905 letter by keeper J.B. Suit complained that his assistant, Peter Earle, "is losing his mind," but most keepers' letters reveal a mundane existence punctuated by endless requests for white paint and rope, said Cox.

"You really had to like the people you were living with. And their cooking," said Tom Stalder of Annapolis, who has organized much of the tour plan.

The U.S. Lighthouse Service operated Thomas Point until the Coast Guard took control in 1939. It was the bay's last manned lighthouse when automated in 1986, and nobody has lived there since.

In 2004, the Bush administration turned it over to a partnership of the U.S. Lighthouse Society and its Chesapeake Bay chapter, Anne Arundel County, the city of Annapolis and the Annapolis Maritime Museum.

The past three years have been devoted to structural repairs, Gonzales said.

That makes it safe enough for visitors, who will pay a hefty $70 each for the partnership to break even on the tours. The price covers insurance, the charter boat trip and tour.

So far, more than $250,000 and 2,000 hours of volunteer labor have gone toward saving the lighthouse. One day last week, several volunteers made a run out there, deciding where to put more yellow watch-your-step signs, preparing for their debuts as guides, evaluating the progress of preservation.

What they saw is what visitors will see: a fixer-upper with dramatic views in every direction - the Bay Bridge, the Eastern Shore, the state capital of Annapolis, the historic black town of Highland Beach, and down the bay.

The rooms are in disrepair - with table saws, cans of solvent, hand tools, wood planks, pieces of windows on the floor amid sawdust and such - but hold Coast Guard and weather equipment. And the structure is topped by the beacon room.

Yet its floor moldings, tongue-and-groove paneling, sitting room and scrolled exterior railings speak to a built-in stylishness of its era.

"It's a very proper Victorian cottage even though it's out here," Cox said.

Photos of the Drum Point lighthouse, one of three similar structures moved to museums, give a sense of how the rooms might appear when restored in the next few years to a 1910-ish era and furnished.

The group hopes to find a lighthouse "library box" to display. Supply boats that traveled among the more than 40 screw pile lighthouses in the bay circulated crates of books among the keepers.

In the meantime, as restoration and cosmetic work continue, the lighthouse depicts evolving technology. The full-time work of up to three people has been boiled down to two chunks of equipment, with the fog bell shaft turned into closet space. The original outhouse still exists, its potty hanging a few stories above the water, but its role was given over to a more ordinary indoor bathroom.

Yesterday, Gonzales thought about the past, present and future as he prepared for his final trip out there before the lighthouse opens to the public.

"I think about the generations of past lighthouse keepers who have kept the light going," he said. "I think of today, that we are helping to maintain the structure as a magnificent piece of architecture - which it is - and as aid to navigation, contributing to keeping the waters safe. I think of my grandchildren, that we are helping to preserve it for generations to come."

andrea.siegel@baltsun.com

Tour basics:

What: Tours of the historic Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse

When: 9 a.m., noon and 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays over seven weekends in July, August and September

Where: Leaving from the Annapolis Maritime Museum, 723 Second St., Annapolis, aboard Capt. Mike Richards' former Navy special operations boat, the Sharps Island

Wear: Closed shoes without a slippery sole and clothing comfortable to climb in; no backpacks, which won't fit through the lighthouse deck hatches

Considerations: The lighthouse is not handicapped-accessible. Passengers must be at 12 years old and at least 48 inches tall. Inclement weather or too few passengers can lead to trip cancellation.

Reservations: Requested a week in advance at 800-690-5080 or www.chesapeakelights.com

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