A valuable piece of history will come to the Annapolis Maritime Museum (AMM), when the 1899 Fresnel Lens from Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse returns.
At the AMM annual meeting, museum leadership announced that the lens, which was removed in 1986 when the lighthouse was unmanned and automated, will be moved from its current location (out of the public view) at the US Coast Guard Station at Curtis Bay, Baltimore, to Annapolis as early as April.
The Fourth Order Fresnel Lens measures 36 inches high, weighs 475 pounds, and will travel in a special case measuring nearly five feet tall. The USCG values it at $500,000. The lens comes as a permanent loan from the USCG to the US Lighthouse Society and the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse management team.
Heather Ritterpusch, AMM curator, says, “The loan of the 1899 Thomas Point lens to AMM brings a very special item to our collection… Our team looks forward to working closely with the USCG and the U.S. Lighthouse Society in development of ongoing interpretation and programming around this lens.”
David Gendell, AMM board member and author of “Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse: A Chesapeake Bay Icon,” says, “The 150-year history of the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse is marked by significant milestones: its first lighting in 1875, the arrival of the USCG in 1939, its automation in 1986, and the handover from the federal government to a unique public-private partnership in 2004. The 2025 loan of this 1899 Fresnel Lens is another milestone event in the deep history of this beloved lighthouse.”
Once AMM has the 1899 model on display, it will join a list of museums with a Fresnel Lens that includes Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT; the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in Cape Hatteras, NC; the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC; The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, VA; and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, MD.
In 2026, a different Fresnel Lens will be displayed at the lighthouse itself; it, too, is a vintage lens (with an unknown pedigree). Learn more at amaritime.org.