Jones Point Light, Potomac River, Alexandria, Virginia
Built in 1855.
JONES POINT LIGHT
Lighthouse Name: Jones Point Light
Location: Potomac River, Jones Point Park; nearest Town/City is Alexandria, VA
Date Built: 1856
Type of Structure: White 1.5 story wood Keeper’s house with black lantern on roof visible for nine miles
Height: 28 feet
Characteristics: Fixed white light changed to fixed red light in 1900.
Lens:1856 fourth order Fresnel lens was converted from whale oil to piped in gas. In 1900, problems with the gas line caused the fuel supply to be converted to Mineral Oil;, now 155 mm optic
Foghorn:
Appropriation: $5,000 to acquire land from Manassas Gap Rail Road and build a small lighthouse built by Charles Church.
Status: Inactive and open to the public
Keepers:
- George L. Deeton and J.P. Geisendoffer (1856 -?)
- Benjamin Greenwood (1866-1903), his second wife remained until 1906 when the station was taken over by Frank Wilkins until shortly after WW1.
Historical Information:
- 1919 the light was moved closer to the point with a 200 candlepower flashing acetylene light set up about 300 feet to the east of the lighthouse.
- Deactivated 1926, a new skeletal steel tower was built at the tip of the point with a fixed green light; at the same time the light was declared surplus and turned over to the Mount Vernon Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) for restoration.
- 1934 the light on the skeletal steel tower was converted to electric power and automated.
- 1936 the Army Signal Corps owned the land surrounding the light until after WWII when it was returned to the DAR.
- 1960’s the DAR approached the National Park Service about establishing a park on the 3000 square feet of land around the lighthouse.
- 1962 the light was discontinued since the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge opened and provided a better source of light for navigation.
- 1986 an agreement was signed with the Park Service to restore the lighthouse as a museum.
- Lighthouse was relit by the Mount Vernon Chapter of the D.A.R. in 1995; interior still needs restoration; managed by George Washington Memorial Parkway, 703-289-2500.
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The above was researched and drafted by Kitty Price, a Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Light House Society volunteer.