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| Add Photo — Add Link — Add Commentary — Correct this page — Print | | Near Scotland in St. Mary's County, Maryland — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic) |
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Let There Be Light
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By Tom Fuchs, March 31, 2007 | |
| | | 1. Let There Be Light Marker | | Click on the image to zoom in to read the timeline and examine the photographs reproduced on the marker. | | |
Inscription. For 136 years, the Point lookout Lighthouse
helped generations of Chesapeake Bay
mariners avoid shoals, navigate through dense
fog, and find the Potomac River’s mouth. The
beam shone until 1966, when an automated light off Point Lookout assumed the job of the original wood-and-masonry lighthouse.
Trailblazing Women.
Lighthouse keeping was one of the first
non-clerical government jobs available to
American women. In 1830, when Point
Lookout’s first keeper James Davis died after three months of service, his
daughter Ann replaced him, working on for
17 years. Then came short tenures for three men followed by two years for Martha Edwards. Her daughter Pamelia kept the light from 1855-1869.
A haunted lighthouse?
Isolated wind-swept buildings often attract
ghost stories, if not ghosts, and the point
Lookout lighthouse is no exception. Decades-old tales about strange sounds and sightings led a parapsychologist to study the lighthouse in 1980, and the Maryland Committee for Psychical Research held a | | | | 
By Tom Fuchs, March 31, 2007 | |
| | | 2. Marker (on the left) and the Point Lookout Lighthouse | | Photographer is standing on the Route 5 roadway, after it has made its turn to return north. | | |
séance there.
The committee reported the image of a Confederate soldier. But proof remains elusive.
“[Grandfather] would fix us baked turtle
for dinner which I didn’t look forward to.”
Recollection by Mildred Lucy Goldhborough
Voight, granddaughter of William Yeatman, lighthouse keeper for 37 years.
During Yeatman’s lengthy tenure
(1871–1908) the light was expanded
and modernized, a buoy depot built, and the house raised one story, with a new tin roof and porches added.
(caption) The Point Lookout Lighthouse, built by John Donohoo, began operations on September 20, 1830.
Erected by Point Lookout State Park, Maryland Park Service.
Location. 38° 2.345′ N, 76° 19.321′ W. Marker is near Scotland, Maryland, in St. Mary's County. Marker is on Point Lookout Road, at its southernmost tip (Maryland Route 5), on the right when traveling north. Click for map. It is at the Point Lookout Lighthouse. Marker is in this post office area: Scotland MD 20687, United States of America. | | | | 
By Tom Fuchs, March 31, 2007 | |
| | | 3. Lightkeeper’s Smoke House | | The sign on the building reads, “this building is a smoke house that was used by the Point Lookout Light House keeper. This property is part of Point Lookout State Park by donation from the United States Government, Department of the Interior.” | | |
Other nearby markers. At least 5 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. A Crucial Point (within shouting distance of this marker); John Wilkes Booth (within shouting distance of this marker); Point Lookout State Park (within shouting distance of this marker); Point Lookout-Hammond Hospital (within shouting distance of this marker); A Bustling Civil War Community (about 600 feet away, in a direct line). Click for a list of all markers in Scotland.
More about this marker. Marker is in the Point Lookout State Park. A fee per person is charged to enter the park.
Regarding Let There Be Light. Click on the map link in the Location Section and switch to satellite view to see the point and the buildings. Zoom out on the map to see the expanse of water that is the Chesapeake Bay and the mouth of the Potomac River.
The lighthouse is open only once a year on the first Saturday in November.
Also see . . . History of and Hauntings of the Point Lookout Lighthouse. (Submitted on May 6, 2007.)
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By Tom Fuchs, March 31, 2007 | |
| | | 4. Lighthouse, Outbuildings and a Radar Station | | |
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By Jason Rearick, September 21, 2008 | |
| | | 5. Point Lookout Lighthouse | | |
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Credits. This page originally submitted on May 6, 2007, by Tom Fuchs of Greenbelt, Maryland. This page has been viewed 1,228 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on May 6, 2007, by Tom Fuchs of Greenbelt, Maryland. 5. submitted on March 7, 2009, by Jason Rearick of Lexington Park, Maryland. • J. J. Prats was the editor who published this page.
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