Originally located forty miles south of here in Hooper Strait, this lighthouse marked one of the Chesapeake Bay’s many hidden sand bars. Because the bay is mostly shallow, sailing from harbor to harbor without running aground was difficult, and lighthouses were essential to safe navigation. When it was built in 1879, most people and products in the region traveled by water, during a time of enormous growth in shipping, fishing, and steamboat traffic that made such lighthouses vital to the bay’s economy. Nearly five miles from the nearest landing, it stood in the middle of Hooper Strait as remote as a desert island, and life there for its keeper was lonely and difficult.