News Release

Annapolis Maritime Museum / 723 Second St / Annapolis, MD 21403
Contact: Jeff Holland / 410-295-0104

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – June 12, 2012

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

Over the past five years, the Annapolis Maritime Museum, in partnership with the U.S. Lighthouse Society and the City of Annapolis, has taken nearly 2,000 visitors on guided tours of the historic Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse. The Museum will offer a limited number of public tours again this season. 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 limited to six Saturdays this summer: June 30, July 7, July 28, August 11, August 18, and September 8. 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 the Annapolis Maritime Museum at 410-295-0104 or visit the web site www.amaritime.org. The cost is $70 per person. 

Visitors will gather at the Museum’s McNasby Oyster Company building 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. 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.

Photo: Museum volunteer Nicola Payne of Annapolis gets a sneak peak into the lantern room at the top of the historic Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse on a recent preview tour.

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.

Calendar listings:

Saturday, June 30, 2012
Visit the historic Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse
This National Historic Landmark is the last of screwpile lighthouse left in its original location, 5 nautical miles from Annapolis in the Chesapeake Bay. Tour boats leave the Annapolis Maritime Museum docks at 8 a.m., noon & 3 p.m. $70 per person includes hour-long docent-led tour inside the lighthouse. Reservations required.  Call 410-295-0104 or click on www.amaritime.org. See web site for restrictions & directions.

Saturday, July 7, 2012
Visit the historic Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse
This National Historic Landmark is the last of screwpile lighthouse left in its original location, 5 nautical miles from Annapolis in the Chesapeake Bay. Tour boats leave the Annapolis Maritime Museum docks at 8 a.m., noon & 3 p.m. $70 per person includes hour-long docent-led tour inside the lighthouse. Reservations required.  Call 410-295-0104 or click on www.amaritime.org. See web site for restrictions & directions.

Saturday, July 28, 2012
Visit the historic Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse
This National Historic Landmark is the last of screwpile lighthouse left in its original location, 5 nautical miles from Annapolis in the Chesapeake Bay. Tour boats leave the Annapolis Maritime Museum docks at 8 a.m., noon & 3 p.m. $70 per person includes hour-long docent-led tour inside the lighthouse. Call 410-295-0104 or click on www.amaritime.org. See web site for restrictions & directions.

Saturday, August 11, 2012
Visit the historic Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse
This National Historic Landmark is the last of screwpile lighthouse left in its original location, 5 nautical miles from Annapolis in the Chesapeake Bay. Tour boats leave the Annapolis Maritime Museum docks at 8 a.m., noon & 3 p.m. $70 per person includes hour-long docent-led tour inside the lighthouse. Reservations required.  Call 410-295-0104 or click on www.amaritime.org. See web site for restrictions & directions.

Saturday, August 18, 2012
Visit the historic Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse
This National Historic Landmark is the last of screwpile lighthouse left in its original location, 5 nautical miles from Annapolis in the Chesapeake Bay. Tour boats leave the Annapolis Maritime Museum docks at 8 a.m., noon & 3 p.m. $70 per person includes hour-long docent-led tour inside the lighthouse. Reservations required.  Call 410-295-0104 or click on www.amaritime.org. See web site for restrictions & directions.

Saturday, September 8, 2012
Visit the historic Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse
This National Historic Landmark is the last of screwpile lighthouse left in its original location, 5 nautical miles from Annapolis in the Chesapeake Bay. Tour boats leave the Annapolis Maritime Museum docks at 8 a.m., noon & 3 p.m. $70 per person includes hour-long docent-led tour inside the lighthouse. Reservations required.  Call 410-295-0104 or click on www.amaritime.org. See web site for restrictions & directions.

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