Lighthouses in Virginia

location of active lighthouses in Virginia (2020)
Source: Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal

Ever since Spanish colonists arrived at Ajacan in 1570 and English colonists arrived at Jamestown in 1607, the Virginia economy has relied upon international trade. Almost all ships bringing new immigrants, supplies, and trade goods to Virginia have entered the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and then sailed up Tidewater rivers as far as the Fall Line.

Ship captains need to know the location of the channel to avoid being wrecked on shoals or shorelines. Identifying the channel was done initially by sight and by dropping a leaded weight to the sediments on the bottom of the bay or river. Today boat captains use computerized equipment and charts to determine their location in relation to the channel.

Visual navigation is still important. Lighthouses mark entrances to river mouths and dangerous shoals, while buoys mark the edges of shipping channels.

In 1720, Governor Spotswood proposed building a lighthouse at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay to improve safety. The General Assembly supported that proposal then, and again in 1727 and 1756, but required the colony of Maryland to share in the cost.

After Maryland finally agreed, 6,000 tons of Aquia Sandstone were quarried along the Rappahannock River and shipped to Cape Henry. Construction started on a lighthouse at Cape Henry in 1774, but that project was interrupted by the American Revolution.

The new Federal government created by the US Constitution included the right to regulate commerce, and it completed the first Federal public works project in 1792 with construction of the Cape Henry Lighthouse. By then the Aquia sandstone delivered to the site and used for the initial foundation had been buried by swirling sand. It was less expensive to ship red sandstone from New York to complete what became a two-tone lighthouse. To repair foundation cracks in 2025, some of the buried Aquia sandstone was excavated and used to match the original light material at the base.

The lighthouse was built on sand; bedrock at Cape Henry is thousands of feet deep beneath the Coastal Plain sediments. Due to concerns about the stability of the 1792 structure, a second lighthouse was built nearby in 1881. That second lighthouse, with distinctive black and white markings, is still in use with an automated light at the top.

Both structures are located at Joint Expeditionary Base Fort Story. The historic 1792 lighthouse is open for tours on a regular basis.¹

lighthouses were built at Cape Henry in 1792 and 1881
Source: Library of Congress, Cape Henry Lighthouse, Virginia Beach, Virginia

Five women served as lighthouse keepers in Virginia, and were paid the same as men. In 1906 Maggie Greenwood became the lighthouse keeper for Jones Point, which had helped ships navigate the Potomac River at Alexandria starting in 1856. She replaced her husband in the role after he died. Before becoming the lighthouse keeper herself, she had raised 11 children in the four-room station at the base of the lighthouse.

At separate times three women, Julia A.P. Harding, Mary Creekmore and Cary Richardson, served as the lighthouse keeper at Cape Henry.

William Parker, who operated the Killock Shoal Lighthouse in Accomack County, was the first black lighthouse keeper paid by the Federal government. After he died in 1912, his wife did the job for the next two years.²

In addition to lighthouses, the Federal government placed lightships offshore to identify dangerous shoals. The Winter Quarter Shoal lightship marked the shallow waters 13 miles east of Assateague Island.

Assateague Lighthouse

The temporary removal of that lightship for maintenance in 1891 led to the wreck of President Benjamin Harrison's official yacht. The steersman on the Despatch saw the beam from the lighthouse on Assateague Island and mistakenly thought he was seeing the lightship. The ship ran aground 75 yards from the beach. The men of the U.S. Life-Saving Service rowed their surfboat to the ship ten times and rescued all 79 people aboard, along with two dogs and a cat.

The equipment and personal gear on the Despatch was a total loss. As reported in the Baltimore Sun:³

The whole beach for over three miles is strewn with wreckage and it looks as though hundreds of people are along to observe every new object of interest which floats ashore. One man rushes down to clutch a box of cigars, another a box of candles, another one a can of ham, Then here dashes a handsome chair, large refridgerator tosses about and with one high surge lands high and dry with the hinges broken.

A lightship was staffed at the Winter Quarter Shoal Station from 1874-1960, except for occasional maintenance trips to port, when storms caused it to draft away, and during World War II when a buoy replaced it. Since 1960, the 6 WQS lighted bell buoy has marked the shoal.⁴

As new technology made lighthouses obsolete, the Federal government has sold some of them to private bidders under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. The Middle Ground Lighthouse in the James River near Newport News was constructed in 1891, and after 1955 no keepers staffed it. The Coast Guard sold it at public auction in 2005 for $31,000.

The new owners absorbed the cost of rehabilitating and maintaining the structure, and spent $300,000 to convert it into a vacation home. That included repainting the structure in its signature red color.

When they decided to sell it in 2026 after 20 years, they tried to list the property on Zillow with a steet address of 1 James River. There is no street address because the lighthouse is in the middle of the river; Zillow rejected the listing.⁵

Middle Ground Lighthouse is painted red
Source: Larry Myhre, Newport News Middle Ground Light

The restored lighthouse is a one-bedroom residence with a half-bathroom (using a marine sanitation system) and an enclosed outdoor shower. There are 55 steps to the sixth floor with the lantern room at the top, offering 360-degree views from 51 feet above sea level. The light is still operational, serving as a functional navigational aid for maritime traffic.

The website marketing the property displayed the restoration effort required after the original purchase. It noted:⁶

The porthole room was among the most heavily damaged interior spaces. Years of neglect had left the space heavily damaged, with debris and buildup throughout, including bird droppings hanging from the ladder like stalactites. It has since been transformed into a functional living and sleeping area. Custom curved seating follows the circular walls, with integrated storage below.

the restored porthole room at Middle Ground Lighthouse
Source: Middle Ground Lighthouse, Restoration

Middle Ground Lighthouse is east of the Monitor–Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online

the Federal investment in lighthouses facilitated economic development on the shorelines of the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean, and inland where transportation infrastructure supported cargo shipments to the coast
Source: Library of Congress, A chart exhibiting the light houses and light vessels on the coast of the United States of America: from Maine to Virginia inclusive (1848)

Nansemond River Light Station
Source: National Archives, Nansemond River Light Station, Virginia (1933 or earlier)

Hog Island
Source: National Archives, Virginia - Hog Island (1933 or earlier)

inside the Fresnel lens at Cape Henry lighthouse
Source: National Archives, Virginia - Cape Henry (1933 or earlier)

Cape Charles
Source: National Archives, Virginia - Cape Charles (1933 or earlier)

Wolf Trap
Source: National Archives, Virginia - Wolf Trap (1933 or earlier)

Windmill Point
Source: National Archives, Virginia - Windmill Point (1933 or earlier)

Thimble Shoal
Source: National Archives, Virginia - Thimble Shoal (1933 or earlier)

Stingray Point
Source: National Archives, Virginia - Stingray Point (1933 or earlier)

Purtan Bay
Source: National Archives, Virginia - Purtan Bay (1933 or earlier)

Naval Hospital
Source: National Archives, Virginia - Naval Hospital (1933 or earlier)

Newport News
Source: National Archives, Virginia - Newport News (1933 or earlier)

Matomkin Point
Source: National Archives, Virginia - Matomkin Point (1933 or earlier)

Sandy Shoal
Source: National Archives, Virginia - Sandy Shoal (1933 or earlier)

Lambert Point
Source: National Archives, Virginia - Lambert Point (1933 or earlier)

Jordan Point
Source: National Archives, Virginia - Jordan Point (1933 or earlier)

New Point Comfort
Source: National Archives, Virginia - New Point Comfort (1933 or earlier)

Old Point Comfort
Source: National Archives, Virginia - Old Point Comfort (1933 or earlier)

References

1. "Cape Henry Lighthouse," Preservation Virginia, https://preservationvirginia.org/historic-sites/cape-henry-lighthouse/; "The Old Cape Henry Light: A Survey Report," National Park Service, February 1962, pp.2-14, https://npshistory.com/publications/colo/old-cape-henry-light.pdf; "Cape Henry Lighthouses," National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/came/cape-henry-lighthouses.htm?glintcmp=inline_sectiontitle_cardtitle_extrasecuritymeasures; "Cape Henry Lighthouse's recent repairs used Aquia stone from the same quarry used during its original construction," WHRO, May 2, 2025, https://www.whro.org/arts-culture/2025-05-02/cape-henry-lighthouses-recent-repairs-used-aquia-stone-from-the-same-quarry-used-during-its-original-construction (last checked October 6, 2026)
2. "Alexandria Celebrates Women: Virginia women lighting the way," Alexandria Times, July 15, 2026, https://alextimes.com/lifestyle/alexandria-celebrates-women/virginia-women-lighting-the-way/ (last checked October 6, 2026)
3. "The Wreck of the Despatch," Assateague Island National Seashore, National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/asis/learn/historyculture/the-wreck-of-the-despatch.htm (last checked November 11, 2025)
4. "Winter Quarter Shoal Station," Chesapeake Chapter, United States Lighthouse Society, https://cheslights.org/winter-quarter-shoal-station/ (last checked November 9, 2025)
5. "Historic Middle Ground Lighthouse, now a waterfront vacation home, is for sale," The Virginian-Pilot, May 25, 2026, https://www.pilotonline.com/2026/05/25/middle-ground-lighthouse-sale/ (last checked May 26, 2026)
6. "Restoration," Middle Ground Lighthouse, https://www.middlegroundlight.com/restoration; "135-Year-Old Virginia Lighthouse That Has Been Turned Into the Ultimate Off-Grid Haven Hits the Market for $995K," Realtor.com, June 28, 2026, https://www.realtor.com/news/unique-homes/middle-ground-lighthouse-virginia-for-sale-off-grid/?emci=9df1d9a8-1b73-f111-ac9c-000d3a54bed0&emdi=b28956ae-a973-f111-ac9c-000d3a54bed0&ceid=340828 (last checked June 28, 2026)

southern tip of Watts Island with lighthouse in 1866, before last lighthouse collapsed in 1944
Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Historical Map and Chart Collection, Chesapeake Bay, Potomac Entrance Tangier And Pocomoke Sounds. Sheet No. 3 (1866)

lighthouses are painted in distinctive styles so mariners can recognize where they are
Source: Library of Congress, Lighthouse on Assateague Island, Virginia

From Feet to Space: Transportation in Virginia
Virginia Places

Lighthouses in Virginia

Barrier Islands

Cape Henry Lighthouse

Hampton Roads Shipping Channels and Port Competition

Marking and Dredging Navigation Channels in Virginia

Ports in Virginia

Shipping in Virginia

Links

References