Hooper Strait Lighthouse

The Hooper Strait lighthouse is called a "screwpile," built on special iron pilings which were tipped with a screw that could be turned into the muddy bottom for a depth of 10 feet or more. Unfortunately, screwpile lighthouses turned out to be very vulnerable to ice floes which, when accumulated around the base, broke supporting pilings. The Museum's lighthouse is the second lighthouse constructed at Hooper Strait--the first one was destroyed by ice in 1877.

Lighthouse keepers had risky jobs with an important responsibility to keep the Chesapeake's shoals and channels safely marked for shipping. Two men kept watch; their duties included maintaining the building, standing watch all night to make sure the light remained lit, and ringing the fog bell during inclement weather. In some locations, families were permitted to live in the lighthouse, but Hooper Strait was not one of them. Consequently, there were no domestic niceties in the lighthouse. Water for drinking, bathing and cooking was collected from the roof's rain gutters, groceries were rationed and arrived once a week from the mainland, and the bathroom facilities were located outside on the deck.

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