Craighill Keeper’s bLog

If you purchase the book through the link below, I’ll even autograph your copy! Plus, this means more proceeds from the book will go directly into the lighthouse restoration (and make-it-safe) fund! Total cost is $25 with shipping. Thanks!! I hope you enjoy it! I really worked hard to dig up some photos that weren’t found in other books. It’s almost lighthouse/boating season! We should start ramping up posts and updates here soon.

In Colonial times, as the Chesapeake Bay and larger rivers became vital shipping channels, the need arose to mark Maryland’s dangerous shoals and waterways. Lighthouses sprang up throughout the 1800s and early 1900s, including wood-framed cottages placed upon screw pile foundations that stood offshore in the unforgiving waters. Most of these unique structures did not survive, lost tragically to ice that also occasionally claimed the lives of the keepers who faithfully tended them and rescued mariners in trouble. With the advent of electricity and GPS, many beacons succumbed to vandalism and neglect, leaving a fraction remaining.