Annapolis Lighthouse Project Still Needs Funding

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Volunteers continue to rehabilitate the Chesapeake Bay lighthouse but those efforts have become more costly than originally expected. The Thomas Point Shoal lighthouse was built in 1875 off the shore of Annapolis as a beacon of light keeping boaters safe from the Thomas Point Shoal. In 1999, it was designated a National Historic Landmark.

“It is the last surviving screw-pile lighthouse in the world in its original location, still being used for navigational purposes,” John Potvin, the lighthouse’s preservation foreman and member of the U.S. Lighthouse Society, told WTOP. “At one time, there were 40 of these screw-pile lighthouses on the Bay.”

The lighthouse became the responsibility of the City of Annapolis, the U.S. Lighthouse Society and the Annapolis Maritime Museum in 2004. The Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society has managed the renovation process of the lighthouse and volunteers have worked hard to renovate the exterior and interior to resemble pre-1939 conditions.

After all these years, the lighthouse is showing severe deterioration, so supporters put together a GoFundMe page to drum up the financial means to plow ahead with saving the lighthouse. The steel beams that hold up the lighthouse have needed to undergo a major restoration and while the project received a $100,000 grant from the Maryland Historic Trust, it is not enough.

The original budget was $300,000, but the discovery of additional needed repairs has pushed the groups past that budget. A fundraising gala also was successful, but Potvin told WTOP they still need to raise an estimated $104,000, so the GoFundMe drive will remain active. Potvin also is trying to secure $25,000 from the state, but that money would not be available until July 2020 if approved. Volunteers hope to continue working on the exterior as long as weather permits.

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