Baltimore Harbor Light

Baltimore Harbor Light

Baltimore Light being fitted with a radioisotope thermoelectric generator on May 20, 1964, making it the first and only nuclear-powered lighthouse in the United States. In the background is the NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered merchant vessel.
Location	Entrance to the Magothy River, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland
Coordinates	39°03′33″N 76°23′56″W / 39.05919°N 76.399°W / 39.05919; -76.399
Tower
Foundation	Pneumatic caisson sunk into seabed
Construction	Brick
Automated	1964
Shape	Octagonal
Markings	White with brown base
Heritage	National Register of Historic Places listed place
Fog signal	none
Light
First lit	1908
Focal height	52 ft (16 m)
Lens	Fifth order Fresnel lens
Range	White 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi) Red 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi)
Characteristic	Flashing white 2.5 sec, with one red sector
Baltimore Light Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Gibson Island, Maryland
Area	less than one acre
Built	1908
Built by	Flaherty, William H.; Lande, Frederick Martin, et al
MPS	Light Stations of the United States MPS
NRHP reference No.	02001417[1]
Added to NRHP	December 2, 2002

The Baltimore Harbor Light, officially Baltimore Light and historically Baltimore Harbor Lighthouse is a privately owned caisson lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.^[2][3][4] First lit in 1908, it sits at the mouth of the Magothy River, marking the channel which leads northwest to the opening of the Patapsco River, which then leads into the Baltimore harbor. The light is located adjacent to the mouth of the Magothy River. At the time of its construction, it was the world's tallest caisson lighthouse due to the deep sediment of its location. It was the world's first nuclear powered lighthouse for a brief time in the 1960s.

History[edit]

Although a lighthouse had been requested at the site since 1890, it was not until 1904 that construction actually began. In October of that year a violent storm struck the construction site, upturning the caisson and sending it to the bottom of the Bay. The contractor defaulted on the work, and it was not until late in 1905 that construction could resume. The lens was finally installed and the light lit in 1908. It was the last lighthouse to be constructed on the Chesapeake.^[4]

In May 1964, the Baltimore Light became the world's first, and only American lighthouse, powered by nuclear power, as a test of the SNAP-7B 60 Watt radioisotope thermoelectric generator. One year later the RTG was removed and a conventional electric generator was installed.^[5] Currently the lighthouse is solar-powered.

The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Baltimore Light Station on December 2, 2002.^[1]

In June 2006, Baltimore Light was sold at auction to private owners by the General Services Administration for $260,000; the U.S. Coast Guard maintains rights to operate a light on the structure.^[6] The new owner, BHL, LLC of Annapolis, was a partnership of private citizens, 4 couples.^[7] The terms of sale dictate that the Coast Guard be granted access to the lighthouse for occasional checkups on the still-active light.^[7] BHL created a web site, which went offline in the summer of 2023, the current status of the lighthouse is unknown.

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

• Baltimore Harbor Lighthouse, from the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society.
• de Gast, Robert (1973). The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 86–89.

External links[edit]

Media related to Baltimore Harbor Light at Wikimedia Commons

• Baltimore Light Station, Anne Arundel County, including photo from 1991, at Maryland Historical Trust
• Baltimore Harbor Light. New owners as of 2006. Website dead as of Summer 2023.
• Chesapeake Bay Lighthouse Project - Baltimore Light