Drum Point Lighthouse was built in 1883 to mark the northern approach to the Patuxent River at a place where vessels traveling the Chesapeake sought winter protection from floating ice and risked running aground near a low sand spit that could not be seen at night. Originally located due south of Drum Point, 120 yards offshore on five acres of submerged land conveyed by Maryland to the federal government, the white-painted hexagonal wooden structure stood on seven iron screwpiles. Its prefabricated, numbered parts allowed assembly in only thirty-three days, and a fourth-order Fresnel lens was first lit on August 20, 1883, showing a fixed red light. The first floor had four equal-sized rooms for a kitchen, sitting room, and two bedrooms, while the second floor had two more rooms, including one for the bell striking mechanism, and four 200-gallon tanks collected water from the roof. In 1911, the light was changed to a fixed white with three red sectors to warn mariners of shoal waters. The surrounding landscape changed over time: by about 1899 a storage platform had been built underneath the structure, by 1918 a shoal had formed between shore and lighthouse so that a footbridge could be built, and by the 1950s a person could almost walk out to it. The lens was originally lit by kerosene lamp and was not electrified until 1944. From 1883 until 1962, nineteen keepers served there—sixteen civilians and three U.S. Coast Guardsmen; until 1944, married keepers could have their families with them, and afterward a keeper and two assistant keepers were stationed there. In 1962, the lighthouse was replaced by a nearby automated beacon-type light and the keepers were withdrawn. Acquired in 1974 by the Calvert County Government through the efforts of the Calvert County Historical Society, it was moved on March 27, 1975, in one piece for two miles from Drum Point to Solomons after its pilings were cut at the waterline, and following extensive renovations it reopened as a historic site on June 24, 1978.