Press Release
Number: EPX200306122 12-Jun-03
Cedar Point Lighthouse cupola gets a facelift
By DAWN FROST, NAS Architectural Historian
and LAURA MCDANIEL, Environmental Public Affairs
PATUXENT RIVER NAVAL AIR STATION, MD—Seabees have a long and
impressive history in the Navy for getting things done. The Cedar
Point Lighthouse has an illustrious history among the locals as a
different sort of workhorse – one for the watermen of the Patuxent
River and Chesapeake Bay. The two stalwarts of old came together
recently as the Seabees of Public Works Self Help re-faced the
bottom piece of the cupola with cedar that duplicates the original
design.
BU2(SCW) Jeffrey Sapp was the crew lead on this, his first major
project at Pax River.
“It was great working on this and being a part of history,” he said.
Sapp, from the Detroit suburb of Clawson, Mich., didn’t know about
the lighthouse before coming to Pax. He described the project with
pride.
“We used $3,000 worth of Western Red Cedar, which gives it a red
tint,” he said.
Each panel of rough-faced cedar is tongue and grooved for
authenticity and strength. The re-facing of the bottom piece of the
cupola duplicates the original design.
About eight Seabees worked on refinishing the lighthouse, working
for approximately 12 days building four new sides, two new window
sections, and closing up a door on the old cupola.
BU1 Santiago Olvera and BU1(SCW) Charles Hicks did the detail work
of the windows. Olvera, who is retiring shortly, said he enjoyed
doing the unique circular windows for his last project.
“It took a day to figure out the templates for the portholes,”
Olvera said. “But from then on it was pretty easy.”
Olvera cut the pieces for the windows out of 6 by 6 pieces of the
prized cedar.
Originally built in 1896 off Cedar
Point, where the Patuxent River empties into the Chesapeake Bay, the
lighthouse was first lit Oct. 31, 1896. Constructed on a peninsula
of 1.54 acres owned by the Coast Guard, the complex included the
combined lighthouse and dwelling, an oil house, boathouse, fog-bell
tower, outhouse, and barn. Sitting just offshore, the Cedar Point
Lighthouse served as a beacon and landmark at the mouth of the river
for 32 years.
The lighthouse continued to serve as a guide for mariners in and out
of the Patuxent River and Chesapeake Bay until 1928. At that time,
the Coast Guard abandoned the lighthouse, selling all but a 10- by
10-foot plot of the peninsula to the Anne Arundel Sand and Gravel
Corporation. The Coast Guard kept the plot to install a post light
as a day beacon.
By 1956, the day beacon was abandoned, and a year later the bell
tower collapsed during a storm. On Nov. 10, 1958, the Navy became
the new owners of the small plot of land. During the time it took
the Navy to acquire the land, the peninsula had become a victim of
erosion through storms and dredging by the sand and gravel company.
The Navy looked into stabilizing the structure, but it would have
been too costly because of the severe damage to the building’s
foundation. The Navy could not afford the upkeep required, and it
was decided the safest course of action would be to demolish the
structures before their condition presented threats to navigation.
The Navy, recognizing the historic and cultural significance of the
site, decided to retain the cupola as a keepsake.
In December 1981, the lighthouse cupola was removed, and on May 24,
1984, the restored cupola was dedicated and presented to the
Patuxent River Naval Air Museum. It was placed prominently next to
the museum.
In 1995, the Navy began to solicit public input on how to salvage
the remaining piece of the lighthouse. Numerous historical societies
and organizations contacted NAS, and after much discussion it was
decided to send the salvage left after demolition to the Calvert
Marine Museum in neighboring Solomons Island, Calvert County.
The museum already had plans to build a picnic pavilion. Using the
salvaged Cedar Point pieces in the design made it a maritime exhibit
that could be enjoyed by museum visitors. The remainder of the
structure actually stood in the river until October 1996, when a
barge and crane moved the slate roof and bricks to the Calvert
Marine Museum for proper restoration. After demolition began, it was
discovered that the bricks were held together with concrete and
could not be separated without destroying them. As a result, one
corner section of the lighthouse remains intact. |
