This screwpile, cottage-type light is only one of three remaining from forty-five that once served the Chesapeake Bay at the beginning of the twentieth century.  Decommissioned in 1962, the lighthouse fell victim to vandals until moved to its present site in 1975. Beautifully restored, complete with furnishings of the early twentieth century, it has become the waterfront's main attraction and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A report by Lt. William D. Porter to the Secretary of the Treasury, Levi Woodbury, in 1838, provides the earliest reference to establishing a navigational aid at Drum Point. Lt. Porter urged that a beacon-light be placed on Drum Point at the mouth of the Patuxent River. At this time, nearby Solomons Island, or Sandy Island as it was then known, had only one house; it was not until 1866 that Isaac Solomon opened his cannery. No apparent action was taken until 1853 when Lt. A. M. Pennock of the Light House Board again urged the board to take steps to build a lighthouse. On August 3 1854, a congressional appropriation for lighthouses, lightships, buoys, etc., included $5,000 for a lighthouse on Drum Point.

Initially, the Drum Point light station was to be located on land. Debates between the state and federal governments over ceding state land to the federal government, fair value of the land, and size of the site went on until 1856. At that time a survey of the site was made for a ten acre plot on the south-most point of land at Drum Point. However no lighthouse was ever built because the transaction was never completed. The reason for this will probably never be known except that the land in question may have been owned by a Richard B. Fitzgerald of Baltimore. Fitzgerald was involved in a plan to extend a railway to Drum Point, and the sale of the land may have complicated matters.

Official records reveal nothing further until 1874 when a petition to Congress was sent by various steamboat company captains and agents calling for a light and fog bell at Drum Point. The Maryland General Assembly on April 6, 1874, passed an act of cession allowing the U.S. government to purchase land, not exceeding five acres, from any resident in the state. It also empowered the governor to convey title to any submarine site up to five acres. This legislation led to a spat of screwpile lighthouse construction in the 1870s and 1880s, since it became easier for the federal government to gain title to submarine sites, having only to deal with state authorities.

On February 15, 1883, a deed transfer was signed by Governor William Hamilton conveying five acres of submerged land about one-sixteenth nautical mile due south from Drum Point. The five acres were encompassed in a circle whose circumference was 263.3 feet from the center; the center being a point 38o 19' 03.5" north by 76o 24' 56.5" west.

Work on the white hexagonal wooden structure and its wrought iron screwpile base was started on July 17, 1883. A Fresnel lens of the fourth order was shipped from the Office of the Light House Engineer in Staten Island, New York, and the light was first exhibited on August 20, 1883. From a height of fifteen feet the fixed red light was visible thirteen nautical miles in clear weather. In poor visibility the fog bell would ring a double blow every fifteen seconds. The first keeper was Benjamin N. Gray, who was transferred from his post as assistant keeper at Cove Point Light Station.