Piney Point Light, built in 1836 at Piney Point on Maryland’s Potomac River near the Chesapeake Bay, guided vessels at an important junction of river and bay for more than a century. Constructed by John Donahoo after Congress appropriated $5,000, its light range was improved in 1855 with a Fresnel lens, and a bell tower added in 1880 aided navigation in poor visibility until Hurricane Hazel destroyed it in 1954. Decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1964, the site later passed to St. Mary’s County and was renovated as a museum interpreting the lighthouse, Coast Guard service, local maritime history, and the nearby wreck of the German submarine U-1105.

St. George Island, Maryland · USA