List of lighthouses in Virginia
This is a list of all lighthouses in the U.S. state of Virginia as identified by the United States Coast Guard. There are nine active lights in the state as well as three automated caissons and eleven skeleton towers replacing previously manned lights.
The first lighthouse in the state was erected in 1792 (the first Cape Henry Light) and it is the oldest surviving structure; the last, Chesapeake Light, was built in 1965 (ignoring automated towers erected later). The tallest extant tower is that at Cape Charles Light.
If not otherwise noted, focal height and coordinates are taken from the United States Coast Guard Light List,[1] while location and dates of activation, automation, and deactivation are taken from the United States Coast Guard Historical information site for lighthouses.[2] Locations of demolished lights have been estimated using National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) navigational charts.
Name | Location | Coordinates | Image | Focal Height |
Built[note 1] | Automated | Deactivated | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Assateague Light | Assateague Island | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | ![]() |
142 ft (43 m) | 1867 | 1933 | Active | |
Back River Light | Chesapeake Bay near Hampton | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 30 ft (9.1 m) | 1829 | 1936 | Destroyed | |
Bells Rock Light | York River | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 40 ft (12 m) | 1881 | 1928 | replaced with skel. tower | ||
Bowlers Rock Light | Rappahannock River | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 1868 | 1920 | replaced with caisson light | ||
Cape Charles Light | Cape Charles | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 180 ft (55 m) | 1828/1895 | 1963 | Active | ||
Cape Henry Light (old) | Cape Henry, Virginia Beach | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 1792 | 1881 | Inactive | ||
Cape Henry Light (new) | Cape Henry, Virginia Beach | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 164 ft (50 m) | 1881 | 1984 | Active | |
Cherrystone Bar Light | SW of Cape Charles | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 1858 | 1919 | Moved to Choptank River Light; replaced with caisson light |
||
Chesapeake Light | entrance to Chesapeake Bay | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 120 ft (37 m) | 1965 | 1980 | Active | ||
Craney Island Light | mouth of Elizabeth River | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 36 ft (11 m) | 1859/1884 | 1936 | replaced with buoy | |
Deepwater Shoals Light | James River | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 27 ft (8.2 m) | 1855 | 1936 | replaced with skel. tower | |
Dutch Gap Canal Lights | James River | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 27 ft (8.2 m) | 1875 | 1910 | replaced with skel. towers | ||
Great Wicomico River Light | Chesapeake Bay | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 42 ft (13 m) | 1889 | 1967 | replaced with skel. tower | ||
Hog Island Light | Hog Island near Exmore, Virginia | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 1853/1896 | 1948 | Demolished | ||
Jones Point Light | Alexandria | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 1856 | 1919 | 1926 | supplanted by skel. tower; Standing but inactive[note 2] |
|
Jordan Point Light | James River | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 35 ft (11 m) | 1856/1875 | 1927 | Replaced by skel. tower in 1941 | ||
Killock Shoal Light | West of Chincoteague, Virginia | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 48 ft (15 m) | 1886 | 1929 | 1939 | Replaced by skel. tower in 1941; now unlit |
|
Lambert Point Light | Norfolk | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 1872 | 1892 | Collapsed around 1911 | |||
Nansemond River Light | Nansemond and James rivers | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 1878 | 1935 | Removed ca. 1980 | ||
New Point Comfort Light | Chesapeake Bay | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 58 ft (18 m) | 1804 | 1930 | 1963 | Inactive |
Newport News Middle Ground Light | Newport News | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 70 ft (21 m) | 1891 | 1954 | Active | ||
Old Plantation Flats Light | Cape Charles | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 35 ft (11 m) | 1886 | 1962 | replaced with skel. tower | |
Old Point Comfort Light | Hampton | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 58 ft (18 m) | 1802 | 1972 | active | |
Pages Rock Light | York River | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 43 ft (13 m) | 1893 | 1960 | 1967 | removed |
Point of Shoals Light | James River | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 1855/1871 | 1932 | 1933 | house removed | |
Pungoteague Creek Light | Chesapeake Bay | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 1854 | 1856 | replaced with automated caisson light | |||
Smith Point Light | mouth of Potomac River | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 52 ft (16 m) | 1802/1897 | 1971 | active | |
Stingray Point Light | mouth of Rappahannock River | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 34 ft (10 m) | 1858 | 1965 | 1965 | replaced with skel. tower |
Tangier Sound Light | Chesapeake Bay | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 45 ft (14 m) | 1890 | 1961 | replaced with skel. tower | |
Thimble Shoal Light | Chesapeake Bay, north of Hampton Roads | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 52 ft (16 m) | 1872/1914 | 1964 | active | |
Tue Marshes Light | mouth of York River | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 41 ft (12 m) | 1875 | 1960 | replaced with skel. tower | |
Watts Island Light | Chesapeake Bay | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 48 ft (15 m) | 1833 | 1923 | 1944 | destroyed |
White Shoal Light | James River | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 1855/1871 | 1934 | house destroyed by ice in the 1970s; foundation survives |
||
Windmill Point Light | mouth of Rappahannock River | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 36 ft (11 m) | 1869 | 1965 | replaced with skel. tower | |
Wolf Trap Light | Chesapeake Bay | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | ![]() |
52 ft (16 m) | 1870/1894 | 1971 | active | |
York Spit Light | mouth of York River | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 100px | 1870 | 1960 | replaced with post light |
Notes
- ↑ If there is a second date, it represents the date the most recent tower was lit.
- ↑ Re-lit as private Aid to Navigation in 1995