Cape Charles Light
Encyclopedia
The current Cape Charles Light is a skeleton tower lighthouse
at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay
on Smith Island
. It is the tallest lighthouse in Virginia and the second tallest in the United States. It is the third light at this location.
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
on Smith Island
Smith Island, Virginia
Smith Island is located adjacent to the southern end of the Eastern Shore of Virginia in Northampton County near Cape Charles.In 1614, Governor Thomas Dale sent 20 men, under Lieutenant William Craddock, to the area to establish a salt works and to catch fish for the colonists. They intended to...
. It is the tallest lighthouse in Virginia and the second tallest in the United States. It is the third light at this location.