Point Lookout Lighthouse May Soon Open to the Public

The Bay Net photos by Sean Rice

The days may be numbered for the rusty barbed wire fence protecting the Point Lookout State Park lighthouse. The U.S. Navy completed a land swap with the state last week, giving the lighthouse property and outbuildings to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

The Maryland Board of Public Works approved the exchange Feb. 15 of two parcels at Point Lookout State Park. A 4.45-acre parcel of land, which was declared surplus property by the State, will be swapped for the Navy’s 4.88-acre Point Lookout Lighthouse Complex, which is managed by the Naval Air Station Patuxent River.

The lighthouse complex consists of the Point Lookout Lighthouse, buoy shed, coal shed, smokehouse and an archeological site.

The site will be used for historic, scenic, recreational and natural resources purposes.

St. Mary’s Board of Commissioners President Tommy McKay told The Bay Net this transfer means good news for the citizens of St. Mary’s County.

“Point Lookout is real our number one tourism spot in St. Mary’s County right now, and to have a lighthouse there that people can visit, I think its going to be a big boon for our tourism industry,” McKay said, add that managing it though may be a challenge.

“We do believe our museum division does a great job with the Piney Point Lighthouse, and much of it includes volunteer work,” McKay said.

“So for the sake of all the citizens, the more volunteers you can use the better, and in order to use volunteer service efficiently, it should be administered on a local level,” McKay said. “And we certainly will entertain that … it definitely needs to be available for citizens of St. Mary’s County.”

A representative of Maryland Department of Natural Resources did not response to a request for information from The Bay Net at the time of this report.