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Last year the Calvert Museum in Solomons, Maryland put on display underneath the 1883 Drum Point Lighthouse one of the augers and attached section of piling that once helped support the lighthouse. The object was recovered from the original site of the lighthouse in 2001 and underwent conservation prior to display.
Despite extensive research in the usual lighthouse history sources, they have not been able to find a detailed description of how the seven heavy iron pilings were screwed into the seabed in the 1880s era, at the precise angles needed. Nor do they know of any photographs showing the process. They do know that, in the case of Drum Point Lighthouse, it took only three days to complete the task.
Hopefully one of our knowledgeable readers will have information to help them with the answers to help them draft their interpretative display. If anyone can help, please contact Richard J. Dodds, Curator of Maritime History, Calvert Marine Museum, P.O. Box 97, Solomons, MD 20688 or e-mail him at DoddsRJ@co.cal.md.us.
This story appeared in the
Mar/Apr 2014 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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