LIGHTHOUSE PHOTOS
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Hooper Straight Light in 2002 - James Ward
The Hooper Straight Lighthouse in it's original location
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St. Michaels, Maryland, USA
Designated Waterway: Chesapeake Bay
The Hooper Straight Light has been relocated from it's original location. The lighthouse was originally off the northern entrance to Tangier Sound, between Bloodsworth Island and the eastern shore mainland in the Chesapeake Bay The Hooper Straight Lighthouse is now part of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland
This 1879 lighthouse standing on Navy Point once lit the way through the tricky waters of Hooper Strait, a thoroughfare for traffic bound from the Bay across Tangier Sound to Deals Island or places along the Nanticoke and Wicomico Rivers.
A lightship station was established at Hooper Strait as early as 1827. Several different ships served duty there, one of which was destroyed during the Civil War by Confederate raiders. As was common on the Chesapeake Bay, the lightship station was succeeded by a screw-pile lighthouse in 1867. This was the first of two screw-pile style lights at Hooper Strait. It was a square dwelling with a fog bell that was rung via a clockwork mechanism. It stood until January 1877 when ice flows tore the iron sleeve piles out from under it, causing the wooden lighthouse to collapse into the Bay. The two keepers made a perilous escape, dragging the station’s small boat for 24 hours across the ice. The mostly submerged lighthouse was later found 5 miles away and some of the equipment, including the lamp, lens, and bell, was salvaged.
In January 1879 Congress appropriated $20,000 for a second screw-pile light. The foundation for this one consisted of seven, 10 inch thick, solid wrought iron, (true) screw-piles which were screwed 25 feet into the shoal. As was common, the wooden dwelling was pre-fabricated at Lazaretto Point Depot in Baltimore and shipped to the light station site. This second structure, exhibiting a fifth order Fresnel lens, was commissioned October 15, 1879.
In December of 1954 the light was fully automated. The windows were boarded up and the dwelling was largely left to the elements.
The cottage was scheduled for destruction in 1966, as part of an overall Coast Guard policy of dismantling old screw-pile dwellings. However, it was acquired in the nick of time by the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, MD, 40 miles away. A number of corporations donated goods and services and in November that year the lighthouse was cut from its pilings and barged up the Bay to its new home. It has been completely restored and is now open to the public along with the museum’s extensive other exhibits.
Researched and written by Matthew B. Jenkins, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Light House Society.
| Location Type |
Offshore |
|
Construction Type |
Screwpile |
| Original Optics |
Fifth order Fresnel lens |
| Current Optics |
Fourth order Fresnel lens |
| Year Built |
1879 |
| Builder: |
Lazaretto Point Depot , Baltimore |
| Operational: |
No |
| Date Deactivited: |
1966 |
| Automated: |
N/A |
|
Markings: |
White Hexogonal Cottage house w/green roof |
| Shape: |
Hexogonal |
| Height: |
41 feet |
| Focal
Plane Height: |
41 feet |
| Range: |
|
| Sound
Signal Building: |
No |
| Sound
Device: |
Fog Bell |
| Existing
Keepers Quarters: |
Integrated |
| Current
Use: |
Museum Location |
| Current
Owner/Manager: |
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum |
| Open to
the Public: |
Yes |
| Web
Site: |
Hooper Straight Light |
National Register Status:
Miscellaneous
From Baltimore, MDTake I-97 South or Route 2 South to Route 50 East.
Follow Route 50 through Annapolis and across the Bay Bridge. Continue on Route 50 East until you get to Easton (you will see signs to Easton).
Just after passing the Easton airport on your right, exit right onto the Easton By-pass/Route 322 South. You will see signs to the Museum and to St. Michaels.
At the fourth traffic light, turn right onto Route 33 West to St. Michaels.
After about 9 miles Route 33 becomes the main street of St. Michaels.
About half a mile into St. Michaels you will see a Museum Entrance sign on the right.
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