Craighill Channel Lower Range Rear Light

Craighill Channel Lower Range Rear Light
1960 photograph of CraigHill Lower Range Rear Light (USCG)
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Location	Off Ramona Beach, Maryland (near Edgemere) in the Chesapeake Bay
Coordinates	39°13′45″N 76°23′39″W / 39.2291°N 76.3942°W / 39.2291; -76.3942Coordinates: 39°13′45″N 76°23′39″W / 39.2291°N 76.3942°W / 39.2291; -76.3942
Year first lit	1873 (temporary lights), completed 1875
Automated	1964
Foundation	stone pilings
Construction	iron skeleton tower
Tower shape	pyramidal with square central shaft
Height	105 feet (32 m)
Range	16 nautical miles (30 km; 18 mi)
Characteristic	Fixed white

Cut-off Channel Range Rear Light Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Edgemere, Maryland
Area	less than one acre
Built	1886
MPS	Light Stations of the United States MPS
NRHP Reference #	02001423^[1]
Added to NRHP	December 2, 2002

The Craighill Channel Lower Range Rear Light is one of a pair of range lights that marks the first section of the shipping channel into Baltimore harbor. It is the tallest lighthouse in Maryland.

History

Congress appropriated $50,000 in 1870 to enlarge the channel into Baltimore Harbor. The new channels were named after William Craighill, a lighthouse board member who supervised the surveys for the excavation. The first section of channel, starting from where Baltimore Light now stands, headed almost due north before turning into the Patapsco River, and new range lights were required to make it usable at night.^[2]

Initially the plan was to use screw-pile lighthouses (shore lights were never considered); ice in the winter of 1872–1873 led them to reconsider this, and the front light was built as a small caisson structure. For the rear light a grid of nine stone piers was laid out, and a pyramidal iron tower was erected. A central shaft of wood timbers sheathed in iron plates held the staircase to the lantern, and a wooden house surrounded this at the base of the light.

The expense of constructing foundation for the two lights exhausted the original appropriation and delayed completion until 1875; in the intervening two years lightships were used instead. The wooden construction of the central shaft had problems with rotting almost from the start, and as recently as 1994 a Coast Guard study suggested that it be removed. However, with repairs over the years it remains in place. The house was reportedly rented out when the light was automated in 1923, and it was finally removed in 1938.

References

↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
↑ Ralph E. Eshelman (January 1996). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Craighill Channel Lower Range Rear Light" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved March 1, 2016.

Sources

"Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Maryland". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office.
Craighill Range Lighthouses, from the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society
Craighill Channel Lower Rear Light at lighthousefriends.org
Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of the United States: Maryland". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Chesapeake Bay Lighthouse Project - Craighill Channel Range Lights
Craighill Channel Lower Range Rear Light, Baltimore County, at Maryland Historical Trust

External links

Official website

Lighthouses of Maryland

Baltimore Harbor Light Blakistone Island Light Bloody Point Bar Light Bodkin Island Light Cedar Point Light Choptank River Light Clay Island Light Cobb Point Bar Light Concord Point Light Cove Point Light Craighill Channel Lower Range Front Light Craighill Channel Lower Range Rear Light Craighill Channel Upper Range Front Light Craighill Channel Upper Range Rear Light Drum Point Light Fishing Battery Light Fog Point Light Fort Carroll Light Fort Washington Light Great Shoals Light Greenbury Point Light Hawkins Point Light Holland Island Bar Light Hooper Island Light Hooper Strait Light Janes Island Light Lazaretto Point Light Leading Point Light Love Point Light Lower Cedar Point Light Maryland Point Light Mathias Point Light North Point Range Lights Piney Point Light Point Lookout Light Point No Point Light Pooles Island Light Ragged Point Light Sandy Point Shoal Light Seven Foot Knoll Light Sharkfin Shoal Light Sharps Island Light Solomons Lump Light Somers Cove Light Thomas Point Shoal Light Triton Light Turkey Point Light Upper Cedar Point Light

Baltimore Harbor approaches

Craighill Channel (lower)	Baltimore Light Front Range Light Rear Range Light

Upper Craighill Channel (cutoff)	Seven Foot Knoll Light Front Range Light Rear Range Light

Brewerton Channel	Hawkins Point Light (front range) Leading Point Light (rear range)

U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Maryland

Topics	Contributing property Keeper of the Register Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Property types

Lists by county	Allegany Anne Arundel Baltimore County Calvert Caroline Carroll Cecil Charles Dorchester Frederick Garrett Harford Howard Kent Montgomery Prince George's Queen Anne's Somerset St. Mary's Talbot Washington Wicomico Worcester

Lists by city	Baltimore: (Central North and Northwest West and Southwest East and Northeast South and Southeast)

Other lists	Bridges National Historic Landmarks

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Portal:National Register of Historic Places

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