Jordan Point Light
Location | Jordan Point on the south bank of the James River |
---|---|
Coordinates | 37°18′47″N 77°13′24″W / 37.31304°N 77.22344°W (approx.) |
Tower | |
Constructed | 1855 |
Construction | wood |
Height | 18 m (59 ft) |
Shape | Freestanding tower |
Fog signal | Bell [2] |
Light | |
First lit | 1856/1875(1870?) |
Deactivated | 1927 |
Focal height | 35 feet (11 m) |
Lens | sixth-order Fresnel lens |
Characteristic | Fixed white |
The Jordan Point Light was a lighthouse located on Jordan Point on the James River in Prince George County, Virginia, near the south end of the present Benjamin Harrison Memorial Bridge.
History
[edit]The history of this station is unclear, but some sources indicate that a light station was first established on Jordan Point in 1855. This consisted of a keeper's house with a masthead light on the roof. This arrangement was replaced circa 1875 (possibly as early as 1870) by a separate 35-foot (11 m) pyramidal wooden tower that housed a sixth order Fresnel lens and a fog bell. A new keeper's house was constructed in 1888.[1]
In 1927 the station was deactivated and the wooden tower was later demolished. In 1941 a new steel skeleton tower was erected on the site of the old tower; this skeleton tower is still in service as the rear light of the Jordan Point Range, Light List #2-12420.[2] Although the wooden tower is long gone the keeper's house built in 1888 still stands. It was extensively renovated in 2009 and is a private residence.
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Virginia" (PDF). United States Coast Guard Historian's Office.
- ^ a b Light List, Volume II, Atlantic Coast, Shrewsbury River, New Jersey to Little River, South Carolina (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard. 2010. p. 114.
References
[edit]Media related to Jordan Point Light at Wikimedia Commons
- Jordan Point Light, from the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society
- de Gast, Robert (1973). The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 150. ISBN 9780801815485.