TRANSPORTATION · LIGHTHOUSE
Holland Island Bar Light
Transportation
Holland Island Bar Light was a screw-pile lighthouse built in 1889 in the Chesapeake Bay south of Holland Island, Maryland, to guide vessels through shallow waters with a fourth-order Fresnel lens. Its history became especially notable for two unusual episodes: the mysterious 1931 death of keeper Ulman Owens, whose body showed signs of a struggle but no wounds, and a 1957 Navy training mistake in which practice rockets struck the lighthouse, damaging its roof, walls, and iron pilings. The keepers were briefly evacuated, repairs followed, and the structure was dismantled in 1960 and replaced by an automated beacon on the original foundation.
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