Historic Lighthouse Guides Passengers Along The Chesapeake

Sitting just north of the mouth of the Magothy River and less than two miles off Gibson Island’s shoreline, Baltimore Harbor Light has guided vessels to the Port of Baltimore and the Atlantic Ocean for the last century. As the first and only nuclear-powered lighthouse in the country, the now solar-powered structure remains as one of three active beacons in Anne Arundel County.

The last lighthouse constructed on the Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore Harbor Light received authorization for construction in 1902 after a $120,000 budget was approved. Lighthouse board members wanted the coastal tower to withstand 100 mph winds, ice pressure of 30,000 pounds per square foot, and a 3 mph current. Expectations were high, but building the edifice on 55 feet of semi-fluid mud above a sand bottom was a challenging endeavor.

“This was the last caisson lighthouse built in the bay, and also the largest caisson lighthouse built,” acknowledged Cory Talbott, a historian with the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society. “It wasn't the only caisson with construction issues, but it had some of the largest ones.”

The wooden caisson was assembled at Lazaretto Depot in Baltimore and towed to its site, where workers added courses of plate iron to it. On October 12, the caisson was flipped on its side during a severe storm and the contractor, William H. Flaherty ceased construction.

Flaherty's surety, United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co., resumed work in 1905 and used counterbalancing techniques to right the caisson. Workers had to counterbalance 180 tons of stone on one side while pumping mud from that side to get the caisson within six feet of vertical.

“The men called sandhogs, who worked inside the caisson, had to work at three atmospheres of pressure,” Talbott indicated. “Needless to say, there were a lot of ramifications, including death, for the men when proper pressurization techniques failed.”

When it was finally completed in October 1908, the caisson was 82 feet below sea level and the lighthouse was fitted with a fourth order Fresnel lens. The full lighthouse included the caisson, a three-story octagonal cottage with light grey brick and a slate-colored mansard roof, and a lantern room at the top. Two keepers cared for it until 1923, when the light was converted to acetylene and automated. During this time, the fog bell was replaced with a fog horn.

A new light and horn weren’t the last modifications to the lighthouse. In May of 1964, the structure was fitted with an experimental atomic fuel cell, making it the first nuclear-powered lighthouse in the United States. That test was short-lived, as the Coast Guard finished their assessment two years later and removed the generator.

“It is unclear as to exactly why it was never used again, but the speculation I've heard was that there was a great fear of nuclear power in the country at the time, and perhaps, they just didn't want to take any chances or create additional fear in the country,” Talbott explained. “The official word was the experimentation time was over and its use was not explored further.”

In 2002, Baltimore Harbor Light was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Not many additional changes were made to the lighthouse until 2006, when it was put up for auction and a partnership of couples purchased the structure for $260,000.

“It is currently owned by four families who own properties facing the lighthouse, and from all those whom I know have seen it say the families have done a spectacular job restoring it with help from some massive repairs done by the Coast Guard in 1988-1990,” Talbott mentioned. “I believe they even replaced the dormers which are missing in the later photos of when the Coast Guard was in charge.”

Future plans are to use the lighthouse for tours. Until then, the beacon will continue guiding voyagers trekking by sea.