Seven Foot Knoll Light
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox lighthouse The Seven Foot Knoll Light was built in 1855 (according to some sources, 1856) and is the oldest screw-pile lighthouse in Maryland. It was located atop Seven Foot Knoll in the Chesapeake Bay until it was replaced by a modern navigational aid and relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor as a museum exhibit.
LocationEdit
It was initially installed on a rocky shoal called Seven Foot Knoll (at Template:Coord), in the mouth of the Patapsco River. The northern tidal reach of this river is the Baltimore Harbor, where the now-decommissioned lighthouse has been placed as a museum exhibit. In 1997 the lighthouse was transferred to the Baltimore Maritime Museum (now the Historic Ships in Baltimore museum) and is permanently installed at the south end of Pier 5.
ConstructionEdit
Constructed of Template:Convert rolled iron, the lighthouse consists of three main sections. The gallery deck was located Template:Convert above the average high tide waters. The house was the second section, sitting directly atop the gallery deck. This is where the keeper and his family would live. Atop the housing area was the third section of the lighthouse, the light beacon. A 4th order Fresnel lens was housed in the small light compartment. It was visible for Template:Convert.
HistoryEdit
The first requests for a light came in 1848, with initial appropriations in 1851. Delays in planning and bidding pushed the start of construction to 1854. The house consisted of a cylindrical structure of wrought iron plates, with the ninth pile in the center.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Total construction costs came to $43,000 by its completion the following year. Most parts were fabricated in Baltimore at the Murray and Hazelhurst iron foundry. The parts were then shipped to Seven Foot Knoll by boat where they were assembled atop of the screw piles. Ice, the perennial threat to screw-pile structures, caused damage in 1884 and 1894, leading to the piling of Template:Convert of riprap around the piles.<ref name="mht_ihp">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
.jpg){kind=link}
The light was automated in 1949, and fell into disrepair, eventually being supplanted by a skeleton tower.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1988, the lighthouse was removed from Seven Foot Knoll, carried by a 1000 Ton Capacity Shearleg derrick, and placed ashore in Baltimore's Inner Harbor where it was donated to the city. On August 22, 1989 the lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref name="nris"/> Aided by the Lady Maryland Foundation (now the Living Classrooms Foundation), many members of the Steinhice family descendants worked to restore the structure prior to its re-opening.
The lighthouse is a contributing element in the Baltimore National Heritage Area and part of the Historic American Engineering Record.<ref name="balto1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
RescuesEdit
Thomas Jefferson Steinhise (Keeper 1930–1941) assisted in the rescue of a tugboat crew in 1933.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The tugboat Point Breeze was then owned by the Curtis Towing Company of Baltimore.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> She was towing a barge of dredge spoils from Baltimore to Gibson Island on August 20, 1933. The Template:Convert winds and Template:Convert seas had overcome the tug and the crew abandoned ship. Steinhice took the lighthouse's small motorboat and made his way out in the direction of the tug's distress whistle where he pulled six crew members from the water. Five crew members survived but the engineer perished. Steinhise was awarded the Silver Lifesaving Medal for his actions in saving the lives of the stranded crew.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Glen Burnie, MD. and his memorial includes a U.S. Lighthouse Service grave-marker.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
List of keepersEdit
A list of Head civilian keepers.<ref name=":2" />
| Name | Year | Service Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Samuel Ayer | 1855–1856 | |
| George McCutchen | 1856–1860 | |
| George Seiber | 1860–1861 | |
| E. B. Lucas | 1861–1865 | |
| Thomas Cannon | 1865–1867 | |
| John H. Wills | 1867–1869 | |
| Edward B. Lucas | 1869–1870 | |
| Thomas B. Davis | 1870–1872 | |
| William Moody | 1872–1873 | |
| Joel W. McDonald | 1873–1874 | |
| James T. Bowling | 1874–1879 | |
| John C. Moffett | 1879–1881 | |
| John Peterson | 1881–1886 | |
| Henry Corson | 1886–1891 | |
| Christopher C. Butler | 1891–1892 | |
| William K. Slacum | 1892–1894 | |
| William R. Schoenfelder | 1894–1898 | |
| John Berentsen | 1898–1903 | |
| John H. Grain | 1903–1916 | |
| John L. Ennis | 1916-at least 1919 | |
| James W. Simpson | at least 1921 | |
| Otho Bounds | 1924–1930 | |
| Thomas J. Steinhise | 1930–1941 | Rescued crew of tug Point Breeze. Awarded Silver Lifesaving Medal.<ref name=":2" /> |
See alsoEdit
- List of lighthouses in Maryland
- List of lighthouses in the United States
- Lists of lighthouses and lightvessels
- Kerosene Lamp
- Position fixing
- Port of Baltimore
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- Official webpage at Baltimore Maritime Museum
- Template:Cite uscghist
- Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse, from the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society
- Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse at lighthousefriends.com
- Template:Cite rowlett
- Chesapeake Bay Lighthouse Project – Seven Foot Knoll Light
- Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse 3D Model Template:Webarchive
- Template:HAER
- Template:MHT url, including photo dated 1993, at Maryland Historical Trust
Template:Lighthouses of Maryland Template:Baltimore harbor approaches Template:National Register of Historic Places in Maryland