July 2006
For the Skipper the icon of the Chesapeake Bay has always been the Screw Pile Lighthouse and we had to find one to visit. There are two in museums and one still in use near Annapolis. We have seen the two museum pieces but were able to go over the one at Solomon’s Island at leisure. The one in service is near Annapolis and we hope to see that later.
The term ‘Screw Pile’ refers to the English technology for mounting lighthouses in mud. The seven supporting pillars have wide screw threads at the bottom which were literally screwed down into the mud to anchor the hexagonal structures placed on top.

The restored Drum Point Lighthouse at the Calvert Museum, Solomon's Island
The earliest photgraph of the lighthouse - 1907
The design drawings for the lighthouse with screwpile feet - most screwpiles have been destroyed by ice flows!
The lady who lived here as a child and helped direct the reconstruction
The lighthouse keeper with his family in the early 20th century when a walkway had been built on the sand spit
The fresnel lens and coloured glass in the light tower
Detail of the top of the fresnel lens
The living room with large iron stove that would have helped with heating - a coal store is nearby
Imagine using this when the bay is frozen in the winter a stiff breeze is blowing!
The fogbell is outside the window and the clockwork in the foreground behind the 21st century electric fan
The name plate
The floor structure with tiny hatchway going through to a spiral staircase

The lighthouses were prefabricated ashore and then taken to their intended sites to be assembled. Assembly took only 30 days and then they were in service. The Drum Point Light-house was just east of Solomon’s Island at the mouth of the Patuxent River and very close to the shore. Over the years the sand spit extended and a wooden walkway was placed from the shore to the light so that the keeper’s family could come and stay with him without a need for a boat trip. Eventually the lighthouse was transported the short distance to the museum and restored to the way it would have been in the past.
Anna Weems Ewalt had lived there as a child and she guided the restoration to reproduce what she remembered as a child. She also left an endowment for the upkeep in the museum.
Entry to the structure is through a tiny trapdoor in the floor and then via a spiral staircase to the different levels. Living space is more generous than aboard a 42 ft yacht!
The fog bell was driven by a large clockwork motor on the upper living level and weights for this hung on chains down into a closet on the lower living level. The bell was mounted outside the windows but the decibel levels must have been awful!
The toilet was mounted over the balcony with open sea below in the manor of all castles and fortresses.

The light mechanism was the usual Fresnel lens of enormous proportions around a small lamp. The coloured sectors being provided by red window glass where needed. The unlit side of the Fresnel was cut away and covered in metalwork which also served to support the enormous weight of the lens. These cut-away lenses were developed by Fresnel to reduce the size and weight of the structures and make them practicable.
We are off to the UK for a month in the early part of August and will plan to organise our affairs for long term cruising while we are there. It has been great fun!!
My sister and her husband have bought a Martello Tower to live in - the Q Tower in Felixstowe and we are eagerly awaiting a visit having pushed them to do it...

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