![]() Baltimore Light being fitted with a radioisotope thermoelectric generator on May 20, 1964, making it the first and only nuclear-powered lighthouse in the United States. In the background is the NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered merchant vessel. | |
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Location | Entrance to the Magothy River, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland |
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Coordinates | 39°03′33″N 76°23′56″W / 39.05919°N 76.399°W |
Tower | |
Foundation | Pneumatic caisson sunk into seabed |
Construction | Brick |
Automated | 1964 |
Shape | Octagonal |
Markings | White with brown base |
Heritage | National Register of Historic Places listed place ![]() |
Fog signal | none |
Light | |
First lit | 1908 |
Focal height | 52 ft (16 m) |
Lens | Fifth order Fresnel lens |
Range | White 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi) Red 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) |
Characteristic | ![]() Flashing white 2.5 sec, with one red sector |
Baltimore Light Station | |
Nearest city | Gibson Island, Maryland |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1908 |
Built by | Flaherty, William H.; Lande, Frederick Martin, et al |
MPS | Light Stations of the United States MPS |
NRHP reference No. | 02001417[1] |
Added to NRHP | December 2, 2002 |
The Baltimore Harbor Light, officially Baltimore Light and historically Baltimore Harbor Lighthouse is a privately owned caisson lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.[2][3][4] First lit in 1908, it sits at the mouth of the Magothy River, marking the channel which leads northwest to the opening of the Patapsco River, which then leads into the Baltimore harbor. The light is located adjacent to the mouth of the Magothy River. At the time of its construction, it was the world's tallest caisson lighthouse due to the deep sediment of its location. It was the world's first nuclear powered lighthouse for a brief time in the 1960s.