Hooper Island Light

Hooper Island Light
1951 photograph of Hooper Island Light (USCG)
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Location	4 mi west of Middle Hooper Island in the Chesapeake Bay
Coordinates	38°15′22.5″N 76°14′59.3″W / 38.256250°N 76.249806°W / 38.256250; -76.249806Coordinates: 38°15′22.5″N 76°14′59.3″W / 38.256250°N 76.249806°W / 38.256250; -76.249806
Year first constructed	1902
Year first lit	1902
Automated	1961
Foundation	Pneumatic caisson
Construction	iron
Tower shape	round "sparkplug" tower
Markings / pattern	White on brown base
Focal height	63 feet (19 m)
Original lens	fourth-order Fresnel lens
Current lens	solar-powered
Range	9 nautical miles (17 km; 10 mi)
Characteristic	Flashing White, 6 seconds
Fog signal	Horn, 1 every 30 seconds Operated continuously from Sept. 15 to June 1
Admiralty number	J2080
ARLHS number	USA-377
USCG number	2-7590 ^[1] ^[2] ^[3]

Hooper Island Light Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Hooperville, Maryland
Area	less than one acre
MPS	Light Stations of the United States MPS
NRHP Reference #	02001426^[4]
Added to NRHP	December 2, 2002

The Hooper Island Light is a lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay, west of Middle Hooper Island in Maryland.

History

The initial request of a light at this site was made in 1897, but construction was delayed until 1901 after the Variety Iron Works Company failed to deliver materials in time. Unlike earlier caisson lights in the bay, the foundation was placed using the pneumatic process, in which the caisson is kept under pressure to expel water, and the interior is excavated to bring the cylinder down to the desired depth.^[2]

The tower is taller than other Maryland sparkplug lights because of the provision for a watch room as well as a lantern atop the tower, the only example in the state. A fog bell was originally housed on the lower gallery but was later moved to the watch room level, a backup to the fog horn added in the 1930s. The characteristic was changed several times through the years, with different patterns of flashes and eclipses.^[5]

Along with many other Chesapeake Bay lights, automation came in the early 1960s. In 1976 the original fourth-order Fresnel lens was stolen, and it was replaced with a solar-power lamp.^[2]

The lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 2, 2002 as Hooper Island Light Station. The structure was officially turned over to the U.S. Lighthouse Society in June 2009, but the light remains active.^[1]

Notes

1 2 Light List, Volume II, Atlantic Coast, Shrewsbury River, New Jersey to Little River, South Carolina (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard. 2012. p. 72.
1 2 3 "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Maryland". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office.
↑ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of the United States: Maryland". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
↑ Ralph E. Eshelman (August 2002). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Hooper Island Light Station" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved 2016-03-01.

References

Hooper Island Lighthouse, from the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society
Hooper Island Lighthouse, from Lighthousefriends.com
de Gast, Robert (1973). The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 134–137.

External links

Chesapeake Bay Lighthouse Project - Hooper Island Light
Hooper Island Light Station, Dorchester County, including photo from 1991, at Maryland Historical Trust

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

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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