The Cove Point Lighthouse

The Calvert Marine Museum acquired the Cove Point Light Station in 2000. However, because this is still an active aid-to-navigation, the United States Coast Guard is responsible for the official operation of the lighthouse. The museum plans to maintain Maryland’s oldest continuously operating light station with the intention of developing one of the region’s best presented lighthouses.

Location

3500 Lighthouse Boulevard
Lusby, MD 20657

Hours

Access to the lighthouse grounds is provided at the following times:

June through August:
Open daily 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

May and September:
Weekends and Holidays 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Closed October through April

About Cove Point Lighthouse

Cove Point is a beautiful site on the Chesapeake Bay where one can look back at the Calvert Cliffs, see across to the Eastern Shore, and observe the LNG (liquid natural gas) platform to the north. There is a small observation platform that lets one look over the fence for an unobstructed view of these sights, as well as maritime traffic going up and down the bay.

A museum interpreter is on site to greet visitors and answer questions. Interpretive wayside panels tell the story of the lighthouse, its keepers, and the Cove Point area.

Visitors can enter the base of the lighthouse tower and look up the spiral staircase. Since the light will continue to shine as a U.S. Coast Guard aid-to-navigation, the lantern room is off limits to the public.

Improvements and Community Relations

Cove Point Light Station Commission provides an avenue of communications between the museum/county and area residents. We are also maintaining and expanding our relations with the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society, the Cove Point Heritage Land Trust, and Dominion Cove Point LNG. The Chesapeake Chapter of the USLHS has been active for years in the maintenance and preservation of area lighthouses. With nearly 800 members from around the Bay, they are a great source of support for Cove Point and many of them have been active in physically maintaining the site.

This effort is part of a program U.S. Coast Guard Cooperative project of the National Maritime Initiative by the U.S. Park Service. 

To find out more about this effort, click here.

CLICK HERE to download an informational
brochure about Cove Point Lighthouse

Bugeye TimesArticles on Cove Point Light

Make a Lasting Impression at the Cove Point Lighthouse
Winter 2001/2002

Titanium Mining in Calvert County: A Cove Point Neighbor
Winter 2001/2002

Cove Point Lighthouse at Last!
Winter 2000/2001

The Lighthouse is Opening
Winter 2000/2001

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History of Cove Point Light

"This is a stationary light on Cove Point, and elevated 40 feet above the tide. it is intended to lead vessels clear of the long low point on which it stands, close to which are seven fathoms of water. It also serves to guide vessels clear of Cedar Point, and such as are bound into the Patuxent River." - The American Pharos, or Light House Guide, Robert Mills, 1832

Cove Point Lighthouse was built in 1828 to mark the shoal that extends outwards toward the shipping channel. A total of four acres was purchased at a cost of $300. Today only two acres remain (the other two were given to the liquid natural gas terminal for a safety zone). The light tower and the keeper's house were constructed of locally manufactured brick. The cost of the entire project was $2000.

In 1857 a fourth-order Fresnel lens was installed with a weight driven rotation mechanism. In 1928 the light was converted from kerosene to electricity. At that time, the beacon was visible for twelve nautical miles.

Throughout the years the keeper's house was expanded from a simple dwelling for the keeper and his wife to a two-and-one-half-story duplex to house two keepers and their families. Around 1950, a smaller two-bedroom house was built for a third keeper and his family. An office building was added at the same time to house an emergency generator and radio communication equipment.

March 1986 marked the end of the keeper’s job, as the orders for automation were received. By August 16, 1986, Cove Point Lighthouse was officially automated. The new equipment included an automated lamp-changer in the lantern to change burned out lamps and a computer to monitor operations. The beacon is now controlled from Baltimore.

Ownership of the Cove Point Light Station was officially transferred from the U.S. Coast Guard to the Calvert County Government in September 2000. The Calvert Marine Museum began offering tours of the light station in 2002.

For a more comprehensive history of the Cove Point Light, read Cove Point Lighthouse: Sentinel on Calvert's Cliffs, by Richard J. Dodds, Curator of Maritime History, from the Bugeye Times, Winter 1997/1998