Aloha! WOW ! July first? Yep!Just got back from a month on the mainland to OCMD and Florida!
Gotta get back in the groove with NSP.com... My apologies to my decatated followers. There is so much to post - most
from all this year... will get started on Friday 7/2/10 Thanks for staying with me, Skill
The links to the newest NSP.com galleries are
posted at the top of this page in blue!
The
1ST & 2nd galleries of THE December photos have been uploaded to NSP Galleries.
Lotz of stuff to post...Triple Crown of Surfing, the EDDIE and more'lil'dat!
NSP archive photos
are in the NSP GALLERY site - click on the link below or *NSP.com GALLERY to your left under the 'HOME PAGE' icon. You will
find most of the photos I've taken in the past two years!
Before 1833
there were no guiding beacons along the stretch of Atlantic Coast between Cape Henlopen, where a lighthouse marked the southern
entrance to Delaware Bay, and Cape Charles, where a lighthouse marked the northern entrance to Chesapeake Bay. As coastal
commerce blossomed, shipwrecks piled up on the many shoals that plagued the coasts of Delaware and Virginia. In 1830, Congress
appropriated money for a lighthouse halfway between Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay. The beacon was intended for the general
vicinity of the Island of Chincoteague, and in 1832 the Customs Collector in Norfolk narrowed the site down to Assateague
Island. The next year the lighthouse’s Argand lamp system was first lit for the aid of mariners. This arrangement comprised
eleven oil lamps hung together on a frame, each with its own reflector. Combined with the tower’s low 45-foot height,
however, the lamps proved inadequate as a coastal beacon.
On
October 1st of 1867 the much taller lighthouse was put into operation, and it remains standing today at a height of 139 feet.
Its stature is accentuated by it position atop a bluff, which is itself 31 feet above the mean low water mark. Built of red
brick, the conical tower with a 27 ½ foot base received its distinctive candy cane striping of alternating red and
white bands in 1963. Of the Virginia lighthouses, only the paint job at New Cape Henry, with its stark alternating black and
white rectangles, rivals Assateague for panache. Obviously striking as a daymark, the island light was also endowed with a
first-order Fresnel Lens, which combined with the tower’s great height to render the light visible from up to nineteen
miles at sea.
The tower and accompanying one-story, rectangular entrance are
built on a twelve-foot deep stone and concrete foundation. The exterior wall at the base is 28 inches thick, while the interior
wall is seventeen inches thick. Iron braces are used throughout the tower’s height to add strength and stability, and
a cast-iron spiral staircase with six independent landings ascends to the lantern room. On these landings, four north-facing
and three south-facing windows light the interior.
A large keepers’ dwelling
was constructed in 1867 consisting of three enormous sections each capable of housing an entire family. Each section contained
a pantry, kitchen, dining and living rooms, three bedrooms and a bathroom. The house was surrounded by blooming forsythia
bushes and daffodils in spring, and in the summer white and purple lilacs were in abundance. A brick oil house also adorned
the grounds; it measured fourteen by eighteen feet and was used to store batteries and supplies after oil became obsolete.
Today a small concrete bungalow, built in 1910 for an additional keeper, is the only remaining original structure besides
the lighthouse. This dwelling is located south of the tower and is now used to house volunteers and interns at the island’s
wildlife refuge.
Assateague’s lantern room is cylindrical and nearly 12
feet in diameter. At the very apex of the lighthouse is a brass lightning rod, with a platinum tip, positioned atop the copper
ventilator ball. In 1933 electricity replaced oil as the means of illumination; three 100-watt bulbs produced the flashing
electric light. An on-site generator was run for about fifteen hours per week to charge the batteries that powered the light.
This situation continued until 1963, when power lines were first run to Assateague Island. At this time a directional coded
beacon (DCB) was installed. In 1973, this was replaced by a similar beacon with a light characteristic of a double-flash every
five seconds. This effect was produced by two revolving drums, one stacked above the other, with an angle of twelve degrees
separating the beams of light produced by 1000-watt bulbs. A Daylight Control Monitoring System turns on the lamp at sunset
and extinguishes it each morning.
In 1891, the presidential yacht Dispatch ran aground 75 yards offshore from
Assateague Island. A 730 ton schooner-rigged steamship, the Dispatch was charged with ferrying high government officials
from Washington D.C. to various ports of call. At three a.m. on October 10 it was returning from a trip to New York City,
when it became grounded on the sandbars. There were no fatalities, but the yacht, which had faithfully served Presidents Hayes,
Garfield, Arthur and Cleveland, as well as then president Benjamin Harrison, was irreparably damaged.
Assateague
Lighthouse is blessed in many respects, including architecturally and environmentally. It is a beautiful structure with brick
walls and floors, along with magnificent brick arches overhanging its entrance and windows. The station is situated in a pristine
nature reserve, where a menagerie of wildlife roam the grounds. Guided tours through the island’s marshes and beaches
reveal native white tailed deer, Sika elk, colorful ducks and other waterfowl, and wild ponies. Wooded trails and bicycle
paths are also available, and at the island’s southern tip there is a beautiful beach with a bathing area.
Often situated on wave-swept shorelines, coastal lighthouses are frequently threatened by the encroaching
sea. At Assateague Island, however, the opposite is actually true; the southern tip of the island, known as Tom’s Grove
Hook, is being slowly built up by currents depositing vast amounts of sand. Most of the Hook did not even exist before the
twentieth century, and at one time the lighthouse stood much nearer to the shore. The island has actually grown in size by
about five miles since it was first selected as the site for the lighthouse.
Located nearby
on Chincoteague Island is the Oyster and Maritime Museum, which was involved in a small controversy with the U.S. Lighthouse Society over the lens from the
Assateague Lighthouse. For years, the tower’s large and shimmering first-order Fresnel lens had been exhibited at the
base of the tower. This was great for the tourists, but not so good for the lens as it was protected with only a chicken wire
fence and was exposed to the elements and stone-hurling vandals. Dismayed at these conditions, the Society, after sending
numerous letters and inquiries, learned that the lens was under the care of the museum. The lens had been donated to the museum
in 1975 by the Virginia Historical Society, who had first received it from the Coast Guard in 1961. Responding to the complaints,
the Oyster and Maritime Museum promptly covered the lens with a sturdy wooden box, and ultimately relocated it to their museum.
Assateague remains an active aid to navigation. It was repainted in 1994, and its brick
tower and foundation remain strong and in good repair. In 2004 it was transferred from the jurisdiction of the Coast Guard
to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
