After extensive renovations and exhibit installations, the historic Point Lookout Lighthouse at the southern tip of Point Lookout State Park in St. Mary’s County is ready to welcome the public.
Visitors will be able to tour the lighthouse five days per week, Thursday through Monday. The park service plans to use this schedule until September. Lighthouse hours will be dependent on seasonal staffing availability.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) began the renovation of the lighthouse in 2017 after previously acquiring it from the U.S. Navy in a land swap deal in 2006. The property required extensive renovations that included stabilizing the structure, repairing leaks, replacing dry wall and timbers, rebuilding stairways, and re-finishing the former living quarters.
After that, crews installed new exhibits and artifacts to transport visitors to the early 20th century when lightkeepers still manned the light to guide ships away from the shallow waters that extend off the coast of Point Lookout, where the Potomac River meets the Chesapeake Bay. The extensive renovation efforts and exhibits cost an estimated $5 million. The DNR also renovated the coal and buoy sheds next to the lighthouse.
“There are two things that make the Point Lookout Lighthouse unique,” said Point Lookout State Park complex manager Dawn Letts. “One is that it’s the oldest integral (the light is part of the keeper’s house) lighthouse standing in the country. The other is the presence of the coal and buoy sheds. Typically, when lighthouses were automated, those sheds were removed. In this case, the U.S. Navy maintained them while they were using the property, and they can now be shared with the public.”
Inside the lighthouse, visitors will find period pieces such as antique furniture and an early radio as well as detailed exhibits that tell the story about what life was like for the lighthouse keepers and their families.
Point Lookout Lighthouse was built in 1830 by John Donahoo, the same contractor who built 11 other lighthouses in the state including the Turkey Point Lighthouse and Piney Point Lighthouse.
For more information on the lighthouse and the park, visit dnr.maryland.gov
Reminder: day-use reservations are required on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, from Memorial Day Weekend to Labor Day in order to ease overcrowding and to ensure that visitors are not turned away due to capacity limitations.
By A.J. Metcalf, Maryland DNR