Sharps Island Lighthouse

Year Built

1882

Cost

$35,000

Type

Caisson with cylindrical iron dwelling

Height

45 feet

Location

SW of Tilghman Island, Chesapeake Bay

Automated Year

1938

First Lit

1882

Lens Type

Fourth-order Fresnel (original), 9.8 inches (250 mm) acrylic (current)

Fog Signal

Foghorn

Year Deactivated

2010

Color

N/A

Last Keeper - Date

Thomas L. Wallace (at least 1939 – at least 1948)

Description

Its current condition it is in an extreme state of decay and access to the lighthouse is not open to the public.

Brief History

•  This early navigational aid exhibited a fixed light from ten lamps, set in fourteen-inch reflectors, until a fifth-order Fresnel lens was installed in the lantern room in 1855.
•  The Lighthouse Board requested funds for a new lighthouse, but these were not granted until April 7, 1866, when Congress appropriated $15,000 for the task.
•  In 1879, two of the lighthouse’s diagonal cast-iron braces were carried away by heavy drift ice.
•  Sharps Island Lighthouse lost its last resident keepers in 1951, following automation of its light.
•  In 1996, Lt. Edward Westfall, head of lighthouses for the Coast Guard’s Fifth District, pondered the wisdom of spending $8,000 on a paint job for the structure.