Greenbury Point Light (Point), Severn River, Annapolis, Maryland
Greenbury Point Light is the name for two lighthouses in the Severn River, Annapolis, Maryland. One is a hexagonal screwpile (shoal) light, the other is a wooden house with tower on the Point.
GREENBURY POINT LIGHT
Name of Lighthouse: Greenbury Point Light
Location: North side of entrance to Severn River and Annapolis Harbor, Annapolis, MD
Date Built: 1848
Type of Structure: Hexagonal wooden tower on center of keepers dwelling
Height: focal plane 39’ above mean high water
Characteristics: Fixed white
Lens: In 1848 had 9 lamps and parabotic reflectors replaced in 1855 with Sixth order Fresnel lens and later with Fourth order
Foghorn: Stevens Bell Machine – double blow every 10 sec.
Appropriation: Just over two acres of land purchased for $367.00
Range:
Status: No longer standing
Historical Information:
- The annual reports of the Lighthouse Board stated that by 1878, the land around Greenbury Point was washing away, and eventually the lighthouse would be in danger. “The light, in its present position, is of little use, and is so small that it can hardly be distinguished from the lights of the Naval Academy and the harbor of Annapolis.
- It was deactivated in 1891, being replaced by offshore Greenbury Point Shoal Lighthouse. The shore station was discontinued, but the old lighthouse was retained as a day mark until it finally collapsed.
Keepers: Levin Wheeler (1848-1850), Robert Wilson (1853-1859), Benjamin Smithicum (1859-1861), William Freeman (1861-1862), Benjamin Suit (1867-1891)
Researched and written by Catherine (Kitty) Price, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Light House Society.