Posted By: PFC
Hooper Strait Lighthouse is Welcome to overnighters - 08/11/04 12:38 AM
08/09/04 News Release from: Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
Navy Point, P.O. Box 636
St. Michaels, MD 21663
www.cbmm.org
Contact: Kerry Wargo Clough, Director of Marketing & Media Relations
Phone: 410-745-2916 ext. 155
Email: kclough@cbmm.org
CBMM’s Historic Hooper Strait Lighthouse
is Welcome to Overnighters
ST. MICHAELS, MD—This month, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is opening the doors of its Hooper Strait Lighthouse to families who would like to spend a weekend night much like the keepers of a century ago.
Several evenings in August have been reserved for would-be keepers, who will be given a special tour of the nineteenth-century wooden structure, perform tasks of a traditional keeper, enjoy a picnic dinner, and sleep inside the historic building overlooking the Miles River.
Built in 1879, the lighthouse that now graces the Museum’s Navy Point campus once lit the way past Hooper Strait, some 39 miles south of St. Michaels. Known as a screwpile, cottage-style lighthouse, Hooper Strait resembles a small home that was built on special iron pilings that were literally screwed into the Bay’s soft bottom.
Slated for demolition in 1966, the Museum purchased the building and moved it to its present site. Too large to be moved in one piece, it was horizontally cut in two just below the eaves and was slowly transported on two separate barges up the Bay. The lighthouse was restored and opened to the Museum’s public in 1967. It is one of only three such lighthouses still in existence on the Chesapeake.
Overnighters do not seem to mind the absence of such modern amenities as running water and inside bathrooms or the fact that they must bring their own sleeping pads and bags. “Spending a night in a lighthouse is an experience people never forget,” said Mary Ann Ray, the Museum’s head lighthouse keeper.
Children participating in the overnight program must be at least seven years old and it is required that there be at least one chaperone for every two children. Families may be joined by other families or individuals.
Dates available are Friday, August 13 and Friday, August 27 for children and adults and Friday, August 20 for adult participants only. The program begins at 6 p.m. and ends the following morning at 7:30 a.m.
The cost of the overnight program is $35 for Museum members and $41 for non-members. The fee covers program activities, a picnic dinner, and two days’ admission to the entire Museum.
For more information or to register, please contact Rachel Rébert at 410-745-2916, ext. 133 or via email at rrebert@cbmm.org.
Navy Point, P.O. Box 636
St. Michaels, MD 21663
www.cbmm.org
Contact: Kerry Wargo Clough, Director of Marketing & Media Relations
Phone: 410-745-2916 ext. 155
Email: kclough@cbmm.org
CBMM’s Historic Hooper Strait Lighthouse
is Welcome to Overnighters
ST. MICHAELS, MD—This month, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is opening the doors of its Hooper Strait Lighthouse to families who would like to spend a weekend night much like the keepers of a century ago.
Several evenings in August have been reserved for would-be keepers, who will be given a special tour of the nineteenth-century wooden structure, perform tasks of a traditional keeper, enjoy a picnic dinner, and sleep inside the historic building overlooking the Miles River.
Built in 1879, the lighthouse that now graces the Museum’s Navy Point campus once lit the way past Hooper Strait, some 39 miles south of St. Michaels. Known as a screwpile, cottage-style lighthouse, Hooper Strait resembles a small home that was built on special iron pilings that were literally screwed into the Bay’s soft bottom.
Slated for demolition in 1966, the Museum purchased the building and moved it to its present site. Too large to be moved in one piece, it was horizontally cut in two just below the eaves and was slowly transported on two separate barges up the Bay. The lighthouse was restored and opened to the Museum’s public in 1967. It is one of only three such lighthouses still in existence on the Chesapeake.
Overnighters do not seem to mind the absence of such modern amenities as running water and inside bathrooms or the fact that they must bring their own sleeping pads and bags. “Spending a night in a lighthouse is an experience people never forget,” said Mary Ann Ray, the Museum’s head lighthouse keeper.
Children participating in the overnight program must be at least seven years old and it is required that there be at least one chaperone for every two children. Families may be joined by other families or individuals.
Dates available are Friday, August 13 and Friday, August 27 for children and adults and Friday, August 20 for adult participants only. The program begins at 6 p.m. and ends the following morning at 7:30 a.m.
The cost of the overnight program is $35 for Museum members and $41 for non-members. The fee covers program activities, a picnic dinner, and two days’ admission to the entire Museum.
For more information or to register, please contact Rachel Rébert at 410-745-2916, ext. 133 or via email at rrebert@cbmm.org.