# Mathias Point Light

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The **Mathias Point Light** was a [screw-pile lighthouse](/source/Screw-pile_lighthouse) in the [Potomac River](/source/Potomac_River) in [Maryland](/source/Maryland); the station was located near the [Port Tobacco River](/source/Port_Tobacco_River). It was particularly noted for its ornate woodwork.

## History

Funds for a light near [Quantico, Virginia](/source/Quantico,_Virginia) were appropriated in 1872. An engineering study recommended instead that lights be built 24 miles (39 km) downstream, and an appropriation was made in 1874 to build a light on Port Tobacco Flats, with a [day beacon](/source/Day_beacon) for Mathias Point. By the time construction began the two were switched, and the light was completed in 1876. Matthias Point was like no other screw-pile structure on the bay, with much decorative woodwork and a distinctive three tiered structure that some described as resembling a [wedding cake](/source/Wedding_cake).

It was intended that this light replace that at [Upper Cedar Point](/source/Upper_Cedar_Point_Light); in the end the number of complaints led to the latter's reactivation in 1882. Mathias Point Light itself was automated in 1951 and replaced in 1961 by a beacon mounted on the old foundation.

## References

- [Mathias Point Shoal Light](http://www.cheslights.org/heritage/mathiaspoint.htm) Chesapeake Chapter, USLHS page
- de Gast, Robert (1973). *The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake*. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 157.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mathias Point Light](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathias_Point_Light) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathias_Point_Light?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.