Cove Point Lighthouse
HOURS
& FEES:
The Calvert Marine Museum acquired the Cove Point Light Station in 2000.
However, because this is still an active aid-to-navigation, the United
States Coast Guard is responsible for the official operation of the
lighthouse.
The museum plans to maintain Maryland’s oldest continuously operating
light station with the intention of developing one of the region’s best
presented lighthouses.
This effort is part of a program
U.S. Coast Guard Cooperative project of the National Maritime Initiative
by the U.S. Park Service.
To find out more about this effort, click
here.
Tour Information and Cove
Point Update
TOURS
Access to the lighthouse
grounds is provided at the following times:
June through August:
Grounds are open 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. daily, interpreter on site.
May and September:
Grounds are open weekends and holidays only 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m, interpreter on site.
October through April: Grounds are closed.
_______________________________________
Cove Point is a
beautiful site on the Chesapeake Bay where one can look back at
the Calvert Cliffs, see across to the Eastern Shore, and observe
the LNG (liquid natural gas) platform to the north. There is a
small observation platform that lets one look over the fence for
an unobstructed view of these sights, as well as maritime traffic
going up and down the bay.
A museum interpreter
is on site to greet visitors and answer questions. Interpretive
wayside panels tell the story of the lighthouse, its keepers, and
the Cove Point area.
Visitors can enter the
base of the lighthouse tower and look up the spiral staircase.
Since the light will continue to shine as a U.S. Coast Guard
aid-to-navigation, the lantern room is off limits to the public..
IMPROVEMENTS AND
COMMUNITY RELATIONS
Cove Point Light Station
Commission provides an avenue of communications between the
museum/county and area residents. We are also maintaining and expanding
our relations with the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States
Lighthouse Society, the Cove Point Heritage Land Trust, and Dominion
Cove Point LNG. The Chesapeake Chapter of the USLHS has been active for
years in the maintenance and preservation of area lighthouses. With
nearly 800 members from around the Bay, they are a great source of
support for Cove Point and many of them have been active in physically
maintaining the site.
Bugeye Times Articles
on Cove Point Light
Make
a Lasting Impression at the Cove Point Lighthouse - Winter 2001/2002
Titanium
Mining in Calvert County: A Cove Point Neighbor - Winter 2001/2002
Cove
Point Lighthouse at Last! -
Winter 2000/2001
The
Lighthouse is Opening - Winter
2000/2001
Look here in the future
for more details, or email us at mccormmj@co.cal.md.us
HISTORY
OF COVE POINT LIGHT
|
"This
is a stationary light on Cove Point, and elevated 40 feet above
the tide. it is intended to lead vessels clear of the long
low point on which it stands, close to which are seven fathoms
of water. It also serves to guide vessels clear of
Cedar Point, and such as are bound into the Patuxent
River."
The American Pharos, or
Light House Guide, Robert Mills, 1832 |
 Cove
Point Lighthouse was built in 1828 to mark the shoal that extends
outwards toward the shipping channel. A total of four acres was
purchased at a cost of $300. Today only two acres remain (the other two
were given to the liquid natural gas terminal for a safety zone). The
light tower and the keeper's house were constructed of locally
manufactured brick. The cost of the entire project was $2000.
In 1857 a fourth-order Fresnel lens was installed with a weight driven
rotation mechanism. In 1928 the light was converted from kerosene to
electricity. At that time, the beacon was visible for twelve nautical
miles.
Throughout the years the keeper's house was expanded from a simple
dwelling for the keeper and his wife to a two-and-one-half-story duplex
to house two keepers and their families. Around 1950, a smaller
two-bedroom house was built for a third keeper and his family. An office
building was added at the same time to house an emergency generator and
radio communication equipment.
March 1986 marked the end of the keeper’s job, as the orders for
automation were received. By August 16, 1986, Cove Point Lighthouse was
officially automated. The new equipment included an automated
lamp-changer in the lantern to change burned out lamps and a computer to
monitor operations. The beacon is now controlled from Baltimore.
Ownership of the Cove Point Light Station was officially transferred
from the U.S. Coast Guard to the Calvert County Government in September
2000. The Calvert Marine Museum began offering tours of the light
station in 2002.
For a more comprehensive
history of the Cove Point Light, read
Cove
Point Lighthouse: Sentinel on Calvert's Cliffs, by Richard J.
Dodds, Curator of Maritime History, from the Bugeye Times, Winter
1997/1998 |
