In addition to the lighthouses that I saw and photographed from 1998 to 2001 (which I painted screens of), we have also seen (and I have photographed) other lighthouses from our boat. It is sometimes hard to get close enough to the lighthouse to get a picture because a) the lighthouse is there to warn of a hazard and we don't want to get 'involved' in going aground.

And b) the boat travels so slowly that Bob often doesn't want to make a deviation to get close enough for a good picture.

The 15 screens (more or less north to south) were:
Seven Foot Knoll
Fort Carroll
Baltimore Light
Sandy Point Light
Thomas Point Light
Bloody Point Bar
Cove Point
Drum Point
Hooper Island
Cedar Point
Point No Point
Sharp's Island
Point Lookout



Smith Point (this is my favorite picture of Smith Point which I just found), and
Old Point Comfort

And I also had pictures of Lazarette Light and Solomon's Lump in that thread at the end.

We haven't been any farther north than Baltimore on our boat.

We finally got close enough to Wolf Trap to take a picture of it on one of our trips down the ICW

The other lighthouse that we eventually saw from the boat was New Point Comfort. We never saw this lighthouse up close until 2004 when we went to the Severn River off Mobjack Bay. I think it is interesting that OLD Point Comfort is still active, and NEW Point Comfort has been abandoned.



I was experimenting with two different digital cameras, and took a fair number of pictures as we passed by the lighthouse. I concluded that the new camera got better resolution than the old one for long distance shots (we were still quite a ways away from the lighthouse).

I have another 11 pictures of this lighthouse and a couple more of WolfTrap that I haven't posted on the internet anywhere - mostly because they aren't good enough to post.

Another one of Smith Point



and Wolf Trap



We have not seen much of Piney Point from the water



It is hard to see from the river, and you can only see it from the west, sort of peeking over the piers.

But we went to the re-opening that was held the May after Isabel in 2003


This is the Potomac from the lighthouse keeper's house

Part of the museum was still closed



But this building was open





They were letting a few at a time go up into the lighthouse, but I waited too long (there was too long a line) and I couldn't stand and wait that long. They let me sit at the bottom of the stairs and that's when I took the picture looking up inside



And the Keeper's Quarters was open because they were between tennants.



I know I have photos of the inside of the Keeper's Quarters somewhere, but I can't find them - only this one taken out the window


This one shows the view from next to the lighthouse out to the Potomac.



It might help you to see the lighthouse here

There are also other structures out in the Bay - sometimes they used to be lighthouses, but often they have always been what are called "spiders'

This is Ragged Point which is off Coles Point on the Potomac


And this is the one at the entrance to the Wicomico



And this one is off the east coast town of Oxford MD


York River


Windmill Point



Stingray Point

This is what the chart looks like with a spider on it. The green trail is our boat's track on the chart.

This structures are used to mark a point (like Windmill Point where the shoals go quite far out) and also at the entrance to a river

This one is at the entrance to the Chester River (not a very good picture - taken through the lifelines.




Most of those pictures were taken with a film camera and from a distance. We did get close enough to this one near Reedville VA (western shore of the Bay) to get a good digital one of it.


This is is an ATON (Aid TO Navigation) near Crisfield MD on the Eastern Shore (actually off James Island). It is more lighthouse like than spider like.



This the entrance to Crisfield


This is on the charts going up the Chester River


Can you guess what it is and what it was?

We also see 'fake' lighthouses like this one on the Eastern Shore of Maryland



And this one on the Wye River (also Eastern Shore)

This is one at the entrance to Cockrell Creek going to Reedville in VA. I can find NO mention of this anywhere on the internet.

OK - back to lighthouses. The lighthouses that we have never seen from the boat are the ones at Cape Henry. That's because we have not gone out into the ocean from Hampton Roads. We always come down and go through Norfolk on the Elizabeth River to Albemarle Sound - either through the Dismal Swamp Canal or the Virginia Cut.

So when we drove south for the first time, we stopped at Fort Story and spent the night and visited the Cape Henry lighthouses.




Unfortunately, the ability to climb up to Old Cape Henry was not available because we were there too early in the morning (open 10-4 in the winter)

This is what I wrote about the trip

The Cape Henry Inn at Ft. Story is open to anyone who has a military ID (active duty, retiree, DOD) and they take reservations up to a year in advance. The rates are on a sliding scale depending on the time of year. This time of year it is $29/night. In March when we come back I think it will be $35, and it goes way up in the summer. From our room we could see the Bridge Tunnel and ships anchored waiting for tugs or pilots

27 November 2004- Saturday
We got up early in the a.m. (the full moon was just setting) and got dressed and went up to the meeting room where they said there would be a free continental breakfast. This was coffee, orange juice or apple juice, donuts, bread (and toaster), and various kinds of cold cereal and various kinds of milk. No tea or tea bags although one of the guys used the coffee maker to make hot water. So we each had a donut and some juice. It was free so I can't complain.

We have about 140 miles to go today from here to Duck, and we aren't supposed to check in before 4 pm, so I've figured out a time wasting route which wasted a bit more time than I intended through getting lost a couple of times

We checked out about 8:15, and our first destination was the lighthouses at Cape Henry on Ft. Story. There is an old brick lighthouse which is open to be climbed from 10-4 in the winter, and the new black and white checkered lighthouse which isn't open. The lighthouses are pretty easy to find. (Lighthouses tend to stand out.)

There were a lot of informational signs, but those proved to be about Ft. Story itself and not the lighthouses. Ft. Story has some units stationed there from the army, navy, and marines for something they call JLOTS (Joint Logistics Over The Shore). Bob stayed in the car while I photographed the lighthouses.



He did get out to look at the two monuments one a cross put up by the Daughters of the American Colonists commemorating the first landings of the English colonists in VA in 1609 (put up in 1935),

The inscription on the bottom on the cross says:

"Here at Capt Henry first landed in America upon 26 April 1607 those English colonists who upon 13 May 1607 established at Jamestown, Virginia the first permanent English settlement in America"

Erected by
National Society Daughters
of the Amerian Colonists
April 26,1935



and

ne put up in 1976 in honor of the French Admiral deGrasse. That monument says:

"Francois Joseph Paul de Grasse

"This statue, a gift from France, is placed here overlooking the waters where Admiral Comte de Grass successfully engaged the British Fleet on September 5, 1781. The "Battle off the Capes" prevented cruicial reinforcements from reaching Cornwallis, thus hastening his surrender.

"Dedicated in grateful rememberance of the decisive contribution of Admiral de Grass to the winning of American independence

"October 17, 1976."

There were explanations of the battle that we had seen the movie about at Yorktown the preceding day. Bob also walked up to the top of the dune line where there was another display about the naval battle.

On the way back (March 14th 2005), we stopped at Fort Story again and I went to the Cape Henry lighthouse visitor's center and got a stamp for the passport. The National Park is really not at the lighthouses which are run by the AFVA, but they have the stamp as a courtesy.

Good job with the photos. Thanks for sharing.
Judy