Fort Washington Lighthouse

The lighthouse is due for restoration in 2023-2024

NPS/Cindy LaBarge

Quick Facts

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Picnic Table

The Secretary of Treasury, James Guthrie requested in 1856 that a light be placed on Digges Point. Since this area belonged to the War, Jefferson Davis. Davis agreed to allow a light to be placed with conditions that " the light shall be placed upon the wharf and not within any of the fortifications; and the light keeper shall be subordinate to the military command of the post and public ground in all that relate to police and discipline. If the care of the light can be placed with the Ordnance Sergeant, it will prevent interference with his present charge of other public property." With this permission the Lighthouse Board appropriated $500 for a light. This first light was an 18.5-foot iron post, which was placed November 7,1857. 

The 1857 light pole remained until the 1870's when growth of the wharf caused obstruction to the light pole. A small 16-foot tower was built closer to the water's edge to replace to light pole. This was considered the first "real" lighthouse and a sixth order illuminant lens was placed in the tower. 

The current tower was built in 1889 as the Fog Bell Tower.  In 1901 the light was moved to the tower, due to the surrounding area overshadowing the “real” lighthouse.   

In 1954, the light was changed to unmanned automatic flashing red light. During the years that followed the wharf and all buildings associated with the lighthouse were removed. The light/fog bell tower is all that remains of a once active light station. Sometime during the late 1970's the fog bell mechanism broke, ending the bell ringing at Fort Washington. In 2020, the United States Coast Guard, removed the triangle red marker and light to the river, ending a more than a century of active duty. The tower remains standing in its original place.