Leading Point Light

Leading Point Light

File:Leading Point Light.PNG Undated photograph of Leading Point Light (USCG)
Location	Leading Point west of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on the south bank of the Patapsco River
Coordinates
Year first lit	1868
Deactivated	1924
Construction	brick
Tower shape	house with lantern/daymark on roof
Height	34 ft

The Leading Point Light was an unusual lighthouse which displayed the rear light to the Brewerton Channel Range. It was eventually superseded by an iron tower on the same foundation.

History

This light was built in 1868, along with the Hawkins Point Light, to provide range lights marking the Brewerton Channel, excavated in the 1850s to provide a fixed deepwater channel into Baltimore Harbor. In form, it was like no other lighthouse in the area, a brick house with a short tower holding the lantern surmounted with a tall pole supporting a large ball, to be used as a daymark.

In 1924 both lights in this range were torn down and replaced with skeleton towers, which remain in use.

References

• Brewerton Range Front Light, from the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society