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Bloody Point Bar Light

Bloody Point Bar Light prior to 1960 fire (USCG)
Location	West of the southern end of Kent Island, Maryland
Coordinates	38°49′59″N 76°23′28″W / 38.833°N 76.391°W / 38.833; -76.391
Tower
Foundation	caisson
Construction	iron
Automated	1961
Height	54 ft
Shape	"spark plug" round tower
Fog signal	none
Light
First lit	1882
Focal height	16 m (52 ft)
Lens	fourth order Fresnel lens (original), solar-powered acrylic (current)
Range	white 9 miles/red 7 miles
Characteristic	Flashing white 6 sec with two red sectors

Bloody Point Bar Light is an early sparkplug lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay near Kent Island, Maryland.

History

Although a light at this location was first requested in 1865, funds were not appropriated until 1881. Based on experience with ice damage to screw-pile structures, a caisson design was chosen similar to that at Sharps Island Light, which was under construction at the time. Ironically, the newly completed light began to list its first winter due to scouring from storms. Riprap was laid immediately to halt further damage, and in 1884-85 a program of dredging and additional stone was successful in bringing the light to with a few degrees of vertical. In the same period a room was added to the side to house a fogbell and its ringing mechanism.

In 1960, the interior of the light was destroyed by a fire that started from an electrical short in the equipment room and spread throughout the light. The two coastguardsmen stationed at the light were unsuccessful in fighting the fire and eventually had to abandon their post, narrowly escaping when their dinghy was caught at the end of its lines on the davits. A large wave lifted them free in time to avoid being caught in the explosion of the light's fuel tanks. The interior of the light, including the lens, was a total loss, and it was completely gutted and automated with a new acrylic lens the following year.

In 2006, the light, like many others on the bay, was offered at auction, and it was purchased by Michael Gabriel, a Nevada-based lawyer who announced plans to renovate the interior. Nothing was ever done though to rehabilitate or stabilize the lighthouse. In 2017, a gaping hole was discovered in the side of the lighthouse. ^[1]

References

• "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Maryland" (PDF). United States Coast Guard Historian's Office.
• Bloody Point Bar Light, from the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society
• Bloody Point Bar Lighthouse, from Lighthousefriends
• de Gast, Robert (1973). The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp.  122–125. ISBN  9780801815485.

External links

• Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of the United States: Maryland". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Chesapeake Bay Lighthouse Project - Bloody Point Bar Light