![[Great Wicomico]](rivers/wicomico2.jpg)
This list contains former lighthouses once located in the Rappahannock River, and off of the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck. It also mentions existing automated beacons, which replaced the lighthouses.
Bowlers Rock | Stingray Point | Windmill Point | Great Wicomico River
Bowlers Rock Lighthouse
(1868 - 1920)
Once located in the Rappahannock River, 30 miles upriver.
It was located between Bowlers Landing in Essex County, and Suggetts
Point in Richmond County. A lightship was stationed here in 1835. It
was burned by Confederates in 1861. Another lightship was placed here
beginning in 1864. A rectangular screwpile lighthouse was completed on
June 10, 1868. In 1920, the lighthouse was dismantled.
The current light is a small automatic beacon built near the original
site. It is 23-feet high and serves as green marker #19 with a 6-second
flash.
Best View from shore: from the marina near Bowlers Landing.
Stingray Point Lighthouse
(1858 - 1965)
Once located in the Chesapeake Bay east of the southern tip
of land at the entrance to the Rappahannock River near Deltaville in
Middlesex County. It was a hexagonal screwpile built in 1858. It had
become automated shortly before being dismantled in 1965. The point of
land here got its name from Captain John Smith, founder of Jamestown, who
was stung by a stingray near here.
The current light is an automatic beacon that was erected on the original
screwpile foundation. It is 34-feet high and has a 4-second flash.
Best View from shore: from Stingray Point at the very end of Rt. 33 past
Deltaville. See Also: Stingray Point Replica.
Windmill Point Lighthouse
(1869 - 1965)
Once located in the Chesapeake Bay east of the north
tip of land at the entrance to the Rappahannock River in Lancaster
County. A lightship was stationed here from 1834 to 1861, when
it was taken by Confederates. Two other lightships then served here
until the lighthouse was built. A white hexagonal screwpile lighthouse
was built in 1869 and had a fixed white light and a fifth-order
Fresnel lens. The cottage was assembled at the Lazaretto Depot in
Maryland. The light was discontinued in 1954 and dismantled in 1965.
The current light is a simple modern beacon at the ruins of the original
screwpile foundation.
Best View from shore: It is not viewable from shore due to private
properties in addition to extreme distance and its small size.
Great Wicomico River Lighthouse
(1889 - 1967)
This isn't actually a Rappahannock River light. It was
once located in the Chesapeake Bay at the entrance to the Great
Wicomico River in Northumberland County. It was a hexagonal screwpile,
commissioned on November 10, 1889. The cottage was assembled at the
Lazaretto Depot in Maryland. It had a fixed white light from a
fourth-order Fresnel lens. It was dismantled in 1967.
The current light was built on the original screwpile foundation. It has an
automatic 6-second flashing light on a 42-foot high steel skeleton tower.
Best View from shore: from private property at Fleeton.
6/7/03
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