Craighill Channel Lower Rear Lighthouse

Year Built

1875

Cost

$45,000

Type

Pyramidal with square central shaft

Height

105 feet

Location

Off Ramona Beach, Maryland

Automated Year

1964

First Lit

1875

Lens Type

N/A

Fog Signal

None

Year Deactivated

Active

Color

Top brown, bottom white

Last Keeper - Date

Henry H. Wills (1908 – 1923)

Description

The lighthouse is an iron skeleton tower and not open to the public.

Brief History

•  The precise location of the rear light took careful planning to ensure the necessary alignment with the front range light, which was positioned 2.4 miles to the south.
•  The lighthouse constructed atop the granite piers resembled a four-sided pyramid, with the residence located inside the base of the framework.
•  On August 21, 1888, a cyclone tore away the dwelling’s roof, its copper smokestack, and portions of the covering of the stairway shaft, but all of the damage was quickly repaired over the next two months.
•  The rear light was electrified in April 1929, at which time a submarine cable was used to connect the tower to commercial electricity.
•  On August 11, 2010, Coast Guard personnel removed the historic Fresnel lens from the rear lighthouse, after stabilizing each of its prisms with archival tape.