Cherrystone Bar Light

The Cherrystone Bar Light was a lighthouse located at the entrance to Cape Charles, Virginia harbor in the Chesapeake Bay. It was the only light in the bay moved to another location, becoming the Choptank River Light in 1921.^{[citation needed]}

Cherrystone Bar Light

Location	SW of Cape Charles, Virginia harbor in the Chesapeake Bay
Coordinates	37.2564°N 76.0324°W / 37.2564; -76.0324
Tower
Foundation	screw-pile
Construction	cast-iron/wood
Shape	hexagonal house
Light
First lit	1858
Deactivated	1919
Lens	fourth-order Fresnel lens

History

This light was constructed shortly before the Civil War, and like the other Virginia lights, it was put out of commission by the Confederate forces. It was reactivated by Union forces in 1862.

In 1919, a simple skeleton tower on a small caisson was erected to replace the old light. The following year, the house was lifted from its foundation and barged north, where it was set on a new foundation to replace the Choptank River Light, which had been destroyed by ice in 1918. This light was eventually dismantled in 1964, but the caisson light at the original location remains in use.

References

• "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Virginia" (PDF). United States Coast Guard Historian's Office.
• Cherrystone Bar 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. 170.