There's an article in The Washington Post today that says Blackistone Light is going to be reconstructed.

I had a picture of the model of Blackistone light which was in the St. Clements Island museum



There was an additional picture in the paper



Rather than try to copy the article, I just photographed it. I hope it is readable (and I hope this is the right location for this also)

St. Clement's Island is the first landing place for the settlers in Maryland. The museum is on the mainland, and they run boat trips to the island.

Today, with my granddaughter who is visiting me, I took the water taxi out to the newly reconstructed Blackistone (or Blackstone or Blakstone as it is sometimes spelled around here), and took some pictures. The lighthouse has been reconstruction from the original plans.

One of the docents said that someone from NJ had been out there to see the lighthouse, so I wondered if it had been any of you, but I don't see any pictures. So who was out there?

This is the first view from the water taxi. The roof drains go down into a cistern in the basement



Front



Other side with oil house



On shore


My granddaughter climbed up to the top and took this picture of the foundations where the lighthouse was originally

Rosalie, The rebuilt Blackistone Light looks great !!!

Thanks for the pictures and the update.

The lighthouse was built in 1851, and the lamp and lens destroyed by the Confederates in 1864. After the war it was a working lighthouse until 1932. Then it was bought by the Navy for Dahlgren Proving Ground to use as a target so that the large shells could be recovered. When the lighthouse was set on fire by vandals, the Navy blew it up. Only the oil house remained.

These are some historic pictures of it from the museum





This is a new photo of the model of the lighthouse



These are some detail shots



This is where the cistern was in the basement - it was 18 feet deep and not 6" as here. The basement floor is permeable brick



Stair detail taken by my granddaughter

Thanks for the photos. They're GREAT!
This a beautiful replica of the former light.

As a volunteer during the Maryland Lighthouse Challenge, I recently heard that the Blackistone Island Light is a newly added light to this year's challenge (2008). Information can be obtained here: http://www.cheslights.org/

After viewing the above photos, I really want to go there the next time I am on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake!

I strongly encourage Harbour Lights to consider making this light sometime in the future, perhaps even an exclusive LLOM (with backstamp) with the St. Clement's Island Museum!

We actually have three lighthouses just in our county. Point Lookout, Piney Point and Blackistone. So a trifecta.

Beautiful, just beautiful. The efforts that went into this are to be appreciated for many years.