Museum launches second season of public tours to Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse

Last year, 631 visitors from all across the country were among the first to stand on the deck of the historic Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse since it was automated in 1986. Annapolis Maritime Museum will offer public tours again this season, beginning in May and running on alternate weekends through the end of September. Visitors will be ferried by boat out to the last screwpile lighthouse left in its original location, one-and-a-half miles offshore on the Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the South River.  

“This is a rare opportunity to get an hour-long docent-guided tour of the inside of this icon of the Bay, a National Historic Landmark built in 1875,” says Museum Director Jeff Holland. “Since the City of Annapolis acquired the lighthouse from the Department of the Interior in 2004, volunteers from the U.S. Lighthouse Society and their contractors have been busy restoring the structure. Visitors will have a chance to see the progress over the next few years.” 

The tour boat will depart from the Museum docks on Back Creek. The boat is the motor vessel Sharps Island, owned and operated by Capt. Mike Richards of Chesapeake Lights, Inc. Tours are slated for May 17 & 18, May 31, June 1, June 14 & 15, June 28 & 29, July 12 & 13, July 26 & 27, August 9 & 10, August 23 & 24, September 13 & 14, and September 27 & 28. There will be three tours each day, beginning at 9 a.m., 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. Each tour is limited to 18 passengers. Space is limited and reservations are required. Call toll-free 800-690-5080 or visit the Chesapeake Lights web site, www.chespeakelights.com. The cost is $70 per person.   

Visitors will gather at the Museum’s Barge House for check-in, safety briefing, and viewing the documentary “Legacy of the Light,” then step aboard the tour boat for the half-hour trip out to the lighthouse, about five nautical miles away.  

“Visiting the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse is an adventure excursion,” Holland cautions. “It demands the physical ability to board a boat from a high dock, endure a 30-minute boat ride through potentially heavy seas, climb off the boat onto another dock, and then climb up a steep ladder and through a small trap door to the deck of the lighthouse. There are no toilet facilities available on the boat or at the lighthouse. If you have any concerns that you or a member of your party will have difficulty, we strongly advise against signing on for a tour.” Visitors must be at least 12 years old and at least 48” tall.  

To become a volunteer tour guide, call the Museum at 410-295-0104. To learn more about the lighthouse or to volunteer for restoration work with the U.S. Lighthouse Society, visit www.thomaspointlighthouse.org.