Assateague Lighthouse

The Historic Assateague Lighthouse prior to receiving its daymark (stripes).

USFWS Photo

Why a Lighthouse?

Prior to 1830, there were no lighthouses along the Delmarva shoreline between Cape Henlopen, Delaware and Cape Charles, Virginia, a distance larger than 100 miles with a significant amount of barrier islands stretching the coast.
Offshore of Assateague Island, mariners struggled with dangerous shoals and with navigating the Chincoteague Inlet. With increased vessel traffic along the eastern seaboard, concerns about this area grew.
On March 3, 1831, Congress appropriated $7,500 to build a lighthouse on one of the islands between Cape Henlopen and Cape Charles. After a trip to find a suitable location for the lighthouse, the Superintendent of Lights from Norfolk, Conway Whittle, chose Assateague Island. A deed was signed, purchasing 50 acres of land for $440.

 

Building the 1833 Lighthouse

The first Assateague Lighthouse was constructed using plans of the generic lighthouse developed by Stephen Pleasonton and Winslow Lewis. At the time, Pleasonton, the fifth auditor of the U.S. Treasury Department, was in charge of lighthouses and navigation aids. Pleasonton awarded the contract to build the lighthouse and a keeper’s quarters to the lowest bidder, Noah Porter of Boston, Massachusetts, costing $4,000.
Construction of the lighthouse began in 1832, and per the contract, was to be completed by January 1833 with an advertised first lighting of May 15^th, 1833.
The first lighthouse keeper assigned to Assateague Light was David Watson. When he arrived to Assateague in April 1833, Watson informed Conway Whittle that he did not have any oil or other necessary supplies to light the tower.
The exact date of the initial lighting is unknown but occurred sometime in the spring of 1833.

 

Blueprint drawings for the 1867 Assateague Lighthouse

Complaints & Upgrades

After receiving numerous complaints about the ineffectiveness of many lighthouses, Congress established the Lighthouse Board in 1852. The Lighthouse Board was comprised of military personnel and engineers in the Department of the Treasury, and oversaw the design, placement, and operation of all lighthouses in the United States. They inspected a large number of coastal lighthouses, and revealed that 36 needed immediate replacement, including Assateague Island Lighthouse as a mid-level priority.
By 1859, Congress recommended the replacement of Assateague’s lighthouse. The following text appeared in the Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, on the state of the Finances for the year ending June 30, 1859:
“The light-house at Assateague, on the coast of Virginia, has been represented to the board as inefficient. The present state of the structure and illuminating apparatus will not admit of any greater efficiency. The dangerous Black Fish and Winter Quarter shoals extend fourteen miles seaward from Assateague, and the existing light does not show outside of them. It is respectfully recommended that this light be replaced by a first order light-house, 150 feet high, to be constructed of brick. The cost of such a structure will be $50,000.”
The lighthouse was deemed too dim and too short to be fully effective at warning mariners of the dangerous shoals. The light was further obscured by a stand of loblolly pines that were on adjacent private property.
On June 20, 1860, Congress allocated the $50,000 for the construction project, with preliminary work starting the following year. A wharf, a plank road, and workers housing were completed, but the onset of the Civil War diverted the funds and halted construction on the tower. The 1833 lighthouse remained lit for most of the war.

 

Civil War

Due to the seafood industry being the primary economy driver of the time, residents of Chincoteague and the surrounding islands chose to remain with the Union to maintain connections with the seafood markets to the north. Confederate successionists from the mainland pilfered the lamp from the lighthouse, rendering it useless. The light was quickly recovered and placed back into service, but not without Union troops stationed at the base of the tower guarding it, preventing any other attacks.
Once the Civil War concluded in May 1865, talk about the state of the first lighthouse at Assateague continued. The Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, on the state of the Finances for the year ending June 30, 1865 described the worsening condition of the lighthouse:
“The increased dilapidation of the present tower of Assateague has obliged the board to take measures for building a new one, as authorized by act of Congress. The execution of this work has been postponed, however, on account of more pressing wants in other branches of the service. It is now believed that there should be no further delay, and measures are in progress to build a new first class tower for this important sea-coast station. It is found, however, that the sum available for this purpose is insufficient, on account of the rise in the price of materials and labor, and an estimate to cover the additional cost is submitted.”.
Congress allocated an additional $25,000 to compensate for the rise in labor and materials cost.

 

The 1867 Lighthouse

Construction resumed on the new lighthouse in 1866, using lime made on site out of oyster shells. The bricks for the tower and the stone for its foundation were shipped in by boat and hauled to the tower location by oxcart.
The Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, on the state of the Finances for the year ending June 30, 1866 described the continuation of work on the tower:
“At Assateague the work is going on in a satisfactory manner. During the year the preliminary works erected in 1860 and 1861, such as the wharf, plank road, and workmen’s quarters which had decayed, have been repaired, the masonry has been removed, new foundations established, and on the 1st of September the new tower of brick-work has reached the height of thirty-seven feet. The work will be continued as long as the weather will permit.”.
On December 13, 1866, work was suspended for the winter, and the brick tower stood 95 feet tall. Work resumed on March 1, 1867, with the tower being completed later that year.
Reaching a completed 140 feet tall, the lighthouse became operational on October 1st, 1867. The tower was accentuated by its position on top of a large dune ridge, raising the tower another 22 feet above the mean low water mark.
The conical tower narrows from a diameter of 28 feet at its base to 18 feet at its lantern room. Iron braces were used throughout the tower’s height to add strength and stability. A cast-iron six-landing spiral staircase leads to the lantern room, with windows at each landing lighting the interior.
Two years after operation began, waterfowl were so thick on the island that the keepers had to install wire screens around the lamp to keep them from flying into it.
In 1939, the U.S. Lighthouse Service was absorbed by the U.S. Coast Guard, transferring responsibility of the lighthouse.
In 2004, it was transferred from the jurisdiction of the U.S. Coast Guard to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The U.S. Coast Guard still maintains the light at the top of the tower and the Assateague Lighthouse remains an active navigation aid.
In 2008 and 2013, an extensive restoration occurred to replace windows, rebuild the lower gallery deck, and repaint the tower.

 

The original first-order Fresnel lens used on the lighthouse is now on display at the Museum of Chincoteague Island.

NPS Photo/A. Garnand

Lamps, Oil & Electricity - Illumination Methods

The original lighting for the 1833 lighthouse was a modified Argand-style lamp developed by Winslow Lewis. It was a chandelier-type arrangement, with 11 burners in fixed positions and 14-inch metallic reflectors, using whale oil and candle wicks. This design tended to draft poorly, causing the lamps to soot quickly, and required the lighthouse keepers to constantly clean the reflectors.
In 1856, a third-order Fresnel (pronounced Frey-nel) lens replaced the antiquated lamps and reflectors to increase visibility until a new lighthouse could be built.
The first lamp in the 1867 lighthouse was a fixed first-order Fresnel lens using a single fish oil lamp. Due to the rising cost of whale and fish oil, the Lighthouse Board switched to using kerosene, which was cheaper. Kerosene, however, was much more flammable, and could not be safely stored inside of the lighthouse. An oil shed was built in 1892 to the right of the tower to store the kerosene safely.
In 1907, a piece of ruby-red glass was placed in part of the lantern room to create a red sector in the light.
Three 100-watt light bulbs were placed inside of the Fresnel lens in April 1933, replacing oil with electricity. An array of batteries replaced the oil in the oil house and were charged by a pair of 2,000-watt generators, running for about 15 hours each week. An astronomical clock was added as well, turning the light on and off each day, eliminating the need for a resident keeper. A lighthouse keeper still needed to visit the site to replace and charge the batteries once a week.
Power lines were run to Assateague in 1961, allowing the lighthouse to now operate on commercial power, and eliminating the need for batteries and generators. A new type of light replaced the first-order Fresnel lens atop the lighthouse: two DCB-36 Rotating Beacons. This system is made up of two 36-inch drums using Fresnel-type lenses to focus light from a 1000-watt lamp, greatly increasing the intensity of the light. A Daylight Control Monitoring System is used to turn the beacon on at sunset and extinguish it in the morning. Emitting 1.8 million candlepower, the lighthouse is now visible up to 22 miles offshore in good weather.
When the first-order Fresnel lens was first removed from the lighthouse, the U.S. Coast Guard gave the lens to the Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society, where it was packed and stored away. Locals wanted it back at the site, and after the Virginia Historical Society donated it to the Museum of Chincoteague Island in 1975, it returned to the island and displayed at the base of the lighthouse for all visitors to enjoy. The lens, sitting outside exposed to the elements and vandals, only protected by a chicken wire fence, endured large chips to the reflectors. The Museum of Chincoteague Island received numerous complaints from the U.S. Lighthouse Society, who was dismayed at the condition of the lens, and they promptly covered the lens and eventually relocated it inside of the museum where it remains today.

 

The Directional Coded Beacons that produces 2 flashes every 5 seconds.

Photo by Robert E. Wilson

Daymark & Flash Pattern

The daymark and the flash pattern of the Assateague Lighthouse help it stand out from others.
When it was built in 1867, the lighthouse was painted white and required constant repainting. The Lighthouse Board decided to assign each coastal light its own distinctive daymark, or color pattern, allowing mariners to determine their location during the day in the same way that light flash patterns did at night. In 1968, the U.S. Coast Guard painted the lighthouse with 4 red stripes and 3 white stripes, giving the Assateague Lighthouse its daymark.
Prior to 1961, the light atop the tower was a “fixed white” light shining towards the sea. When the Directional Coded Beacons (DCB) were installed, the drums were positioned one on top of the other at a 12-degree difference, creating a unique “flashing” pattern of a double flash every 5 seconds.