Piney Point, Maryland
Encyclopedia
Piney Point is an unincorporated community
in St. Mary's County, Maryland
, United States
. It is known for the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education
, a popular seafood restaurant, beautiful houses along the beach, a lighthouse, and a "Museum." The Piney Point post office also serves St. George Island
, which is connected to it by a short bridge.
is situated on the Maryland shore of the river. A lightship had been stationed in the area since 1821, to mark shoal hazards at Piney Point and on the opposite shore at Ragged Point. In 1835, Congress set aside $5,000 for construction of a land-based beacon to replace the lightship. The contract was awarded to the prolific lighthouse builder John Donahoo. Piney Point Lighthouse was the tenth of twelve he would complete in his lifetime. The tower was the first of eleven lighthouses to be built along the river, and it is one of only three that remain standing today (the other two being Jones Point and Fort Washington). In addition to the tower, Donahoo built a one-story keeper’s dwelling topped by an A-line roof. The small 20 x 30 foot house contained a dining room, parlor, fireplace and cellar, and was given a 10 x 12 foot kitchen later on. In 1884 a second story was added to the structure, greatly improving the keeper’s comfort level.
The old lighting apparatus of ten oil lamps set in 15-inch reflectors was replaced by a more efficient fifth-order Fresnel lens in 1855. This change increased the lighthouse’s visibility from ten to eleven miles. In 1880 a thirty-foot fog bell tower was added to aid mariners in low-visibility conditions. Painted white, this tower stood fifteen feet west of the lighthouse and possessed a mechanical striker. A long reed horn replaced the bell in 1936, and the old bell tower was demolished by Hurricane Hazel in 1954.
A Maryland Historical Trust report gives an excellent account of the lighthouse’s original dimensions and the current condition in which we find it over 150 years later. The tower has a thirteen-foot diameter at the base, where its walls are four-feet thick, and tapers to a seven-foot diameter at the top, where the walls are only eighteen inches thick. The door to the structure is just five feet high, and is set in a threshold that is a single piece of stone. The floor of the tower is made of brick treads, and a spiral wooden staircase winds around a central support column. The outmost portions of the stair treads are set in the masonry walls, and the stairwell leads to a masonry vault that sustains the lantern deck above. Three windows are set at different levels within the tower.
The nine-sided lantern, currently painted black, is accessed via an iron ship’s ladder that ascends through the lantern deck. The panes along the lantern walls are rectangular in shape, and a metal roof with a large ventilator ball caps off the structure. The lantern’s floor is made of radially laid stone wedges, and the outer parapet wall is composed of masonry. An exterior brick deck encircles the lantern room, and can be reached by walking through an iron half. While the fifth-order Fresnel lens has been removed, the original light pedestal is still intact.
In a modern-day interview, Marion Humphries, the son of a Piney Point Lighthouse keeper, gives a compelling account of the work ethic a light steward had to maintain. Humphries’ father was assigned to the station from 1907 to 1912, and young Marion was often called upon to help with various tasks. He relates how he “knew every part of the machinery that operated (the) light and the fog signal...as good as my dad.” He claims that his father was a “stickler” for proper procedures, and that “it was beat into your head that what you were doing was for the protection of the lives of people.” Later in the article we learn that this attitude emanated from the top down. Humphries recalls how a retired naval officer and lighthouse inspector would put on a pair of white gloves and run a finger along the top of the door, looking for dust. Apparently this inspector’s high standards were well satisfied, as he once told the elder Loch Humpries: “Your place looks like a man o’ war.”
The keeper’s job was ultimately eliminated with the onset of automation, and Piney Point Light Station was decommissioned completely in 1964. For many years the Coast Guard kept the property as housing for its personnel, but in 1980 it deeded the grounds to St. Mary’s County. The lighthouse and other buildings were given over to the Department of Recreation and Parks, and this organization allowed the St. Clement’s Island-Potomac River Museum to take over the operation of the site. Though the light is no longer an aid to navigation today, the Museum sometimes activates the lantern at night.
The Museum has undertaken a restoration program aimed at repairing and improving the tower and grounds, and it recently received an $11,000 donation from the nearby Steuart Petroleum Company for that purpose. These monies were used for external lighting of the grounds, landscaping, benches and picnic tables, and brick repairs for the keeper’s house. The restrooms at this public park were also made wheelchair accessible with the Petroleum grant. Other improvements to the property include a boardwalk that traverses a path from the keeper’s house to a Potomac River pier amidst a sand beach and pine trees. Flower beds and walkways extend throughout the grounds, and an interested visitor can read from plaques that relate the historical lore of the lighthouse.
The St. Clements group established a Piney Point Lighthouse Museum. Piney Point Lighthouse Museum in a Coast Guard cottage near the lighthouse, but this structure was unfortunately flooded by Hurricane Isabel in 2003. The museum is now located on higher ground in a two-story building just up the road from the lighthouse. The museum contains exhibits about the lighthouse, the Coast Guard, the history of the area as a presidential retreat, and the interesting tale of a Black Panther German submarine that was sunk in the waters of the Potomac. This German U-boat is still largely intact, and is now a historical shipwreck dive preserve. Besides this sunken sub, Piney Point did not see much combat action during World War II, although it was used as a torpedo testing range during the conflict.
Appropriately, the Piney Point Lighthouse Museum can also be reached by boat. Seafaring vessels can dock at a river pier and proceed directly along the boardwalk to the lighthouse and other attractions.
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
in St. Mary's County, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is known for the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education
Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education
The Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education is an educational facility in Piney Point, Maryland which is affiliated with the Seafarers International Union...
, a popular seafood restaurant, beautiful houses along the beach, a lighthouse, and a "Museum." The Piney Point post office also serves St. George Island
St. George Island, Maryland
St. George Island is an unincorporated community in St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States. The post office at Piney Point, Maryland serves the island, which is connected to it by a short bridge.During the War of 1812 the British made the island their headquarters, and raided shipyards and...
, which is connected to it by a short bridge.
History
The scenic environment of Piney Point was the summer getaway of many Washington D.C. notables from the years 1820 to 1910. Named after the long leaf yellow and loblolly pines lining the shores of the Potomac, the Point provided a nature retreat to Presidents James Monroe, Franklin Pierce and Teddy Roosevelt. A number of other Capital luminaries such as Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun and Daniel Webster were frequent visitors to the Piney Point Hotel, which was unfortunately shut down after a hurricane in 1933.The Lighthouse
Located fourteen miles up the Potomac River from the Chesapeake Bay, Piney Point LighthousePiney Point Light
The Piney Point Light was built in 1836 located at Piney Point on the Potomac River in Maryland just up the river from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The Coast Guard decommissioned it in 1964 and it has since become a museum...
is situated on the Maryland shore of the river. A lightship had been stationed in the area since 1821, to mark shoal hazards at Piney Point and on the opposite shore at Ragged Point. In 1835, Congress set aside $5,000 for construction of a land-based beacon to replace the lightship. The contract was awarded to the prolific lighthouse builder John Donahoo. Piney Point Lighthouse was the tenth of twelve he would complete in his lifetime. The tower was the first of eleven lighthouses to be built along the river, and it is one of only three that remain standing today (the other two being Jones Point and Fort Washington). In addition to the tower, Donahoo built a one-story keeper’s dwelling topped by an A-line roof. The small 20 x 30 foot house contained a dining room, parlor, fireplace and cellar, and was given a 10 x 12 foot kitchen later on. In 1884 a second story was added to the structure, greatly improving the keeper’s comfort level.
The old lighting apparatus of ten oil lamps set in 15-inch reflectors was replaced by a more efficient fifth-order Fresnel lens in 1855. This change increased the lighthouse’s visibility from ten to eleven miles. In 1880 a thirty-foot fog bell tower was added to aid mariners in low-visibility conditions. Painted white, this tower stood fifteen feet west of the lighthouse and possessed a mechanical striker. A long reed horn replaced the bell in 1936, and the old bell tower was demolished by Hurricane Hazel in 1954.
A Maryland Historical Trust report gives an excellent account of the lighthouse’s original dimensions and the current condition in which we find it over 150 years later. The tower has a thirteen-foot diameter at the base, where its walls are four-feet thick, and tapers to a seven-foot diameter at the top, where the walls are only eighteen inches thick. The door to the structure is just five feet high, and is set in a threshold that is a single piece of stone. The floor of the tower is made of brick treads, and a spiral wooden staircase winds around a central support column. The outmost portions of the stair treads are set in the masonry walls, and the stairwell leads to a masonry vault that sustains the lantern deck above. Three windows are set at different levels within the tower.
The nine-sided lantern, currently painted black, is accessed via an iron ship’s ladder that ascends through the lantern deck. The panes along the lantern walls are rectangular in shape, and a metal roof with a large ventilator ball caps off the structure. The lantern’s floor is made of radially laid stone wedges, and the outer parapet wall is composed of masonry. An exterior brick deck encircles the lantern room, and can be reached by walking through an iron half. While the fifth-order Fresnel lens has been removed, the original light pedestal is still intact.
In a modern-day interview, Marion Humphries, the son of a Piney Point Lighthouse keeper, gives a compelling account of the work ethic a light steward had to maintain. Humphries’ father was assigned to the station from 1907 to 1912, and young Marion was often called upon to help with various tasks. He relates how he “knew every part of the machinery that operated (the) light and the fog signal...as good as my dad.” He claims that his father was a “stickler” for proper procedures, and that “it was beat into your head that what you were doing was for the protection of the lives of people.” Later in the article we learn that this attitude emanated from the top down. Humphries recalls how a retired naval officer and lighthouse inspector would put on a pair of white gloves and run a finger along the top of the door, looking for dust. Apparently this inspector’s high standards were well satisfied, as he once told the elder Loch Humpries: “Your place looks like a man o’ war.”
The keeper’s job was ultimately eliminated with the onset of automation, and Piney Point Light Station was decommissioned completely in 1964. For many years the Coast Guard kept the property as housing for its personnel, but in 1980 it deeded the grounds to St. Mary’s County. The lighthouse and other buildings were given over to the Department of Recreation and Parks, and this organization allowed the St. Clement’s Island-Potomac River Museum to take over the operation of the site. Though the light is no longer an aid to navigation today, the Museum sometimes activates the lantern at night.
The Museum has undertaken a restoration program aimed at repairing and improving the tower and grounds, and it recently received an $11,000 donation from the nearby Steuart Petroleum Company for that purpose. These monies were used for external lighting of the grounds, landscaping, benches and picnic tables, and brick repairs for the keeper’s house. The restrooms at this public park were also made wheelchair accessible with the Petroleum grant. Other improvements to the property include a boardwalk that traverses a path from the keeper’s house to a Potomac River pier amidst a sand beach and pine trees. Flower beds and walkways extend throughout the grounds, and an interested visitor can read from plaques that relate the historical lore of the lighthouse.
The St. Clements group established a Piney Point Lighthouse Museum. Piney Point Lighthouse Museum in a Coast Guard cottage near the lighthouse, but this structure was unfortunately flooded by Hurricane Isabel in 2003. The museum is now located on higher ground in a two-story building just up the road from the lighthouse. The museum contains exhibits about the lighthouse, the Coast Guard, the history of the area as a presidential retreat, and the interesting tale of a Black Panther German submarine that was sunk in the waters of the Potomac. This German U-boat is still largely intact, and is now a historical shipwreck dive preserve. Besides this sunken sub, Piney Point did not see much combat action during World War II, although it was used as a torpedo testing range during the conflict.
Appropriately, the Piney Point Lighthouse Museum can also be reached by boat. Seafaring vessels can dock at a river pier and proceed directly along the boardwalk to the lighthouse and other attractions.