The Lighthouse of Presidents on the Potomac River

The Piney Point Lighthouse is located at Piney Point on the Potomac River in Maryland, just up the river from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. It is known as the Lighthouse of Presidents because several early US Presidents visited or stayed on the grounds. The Coast Guard decommissioned the lighthouse in 1964, and it has functioned as a museum ever since.

Congress appropriated $5000 to build the lighthouse in 1836, and John Donahoo built the structure. It had an original range of 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi). The lamp was replaced with a Fresnel lens in 1855, which increased the range to 11 nautical miles (20 km; 13 mi). A bell tower was added to the lighthouse in 1880 and remained in service until 1954, when Hurricane Hazel damaged it beyond repair.

The federal government deeded the property to St. Mary's County in 1980, and the Museum Division of St. Mary's County Department of Recreation and Parks began renovating the grounds in 1990. The museum features exhibits on the United States Coast Guard and the story of the Black Panther U-1105 German submarine sunk in the Potomac, which now serves as a shipwreck dive preserve.

Visitors can climb the lighthouse tower when the museum is open. The site also includes the Potomac River Maritime Exhibit, which displays four historic wooden vessels in a separate building. Nearby, the Piney Point Elementary School in Tall Timbers, Maryland, is named after the lighthouse.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons