Mathias Point Light was a screw-pile lighthouse built on shallow flats in the Potomac River near the mouth of the Port Tobacco River in Maryland, serving a difficult reach of water with one of the region’s most distinctive designs. Emerging from an 1872 appropriation and revised engineering plans, it was funded in 1874 and completed in 1876 after its role was swapped with a planned day beacon. Known for ornate woodwork and a three-tiered form likened to a wedding cake, it was intended to replace Upper Cedar Point Light, but mariners’ complaints led to that light’s return in 1882. Automated in 1951, Mathias Point Light was replaced by a beacon in 1961.