Stingray
Point Lighthouse was built in 1858 at the entrance to the Rappahannock River
near Deltaville, Virginia. It was a hexagonal screwpile lighthouse. The
lighthouse was automated just prior to being dismantled in 1965. Sections
of the lighthouse were sold to Gilbert Purcell, a boatyard owner who hoped
to rebuild the lighthouse on land, but never did. It was replaced with a
steel skeletal tower build on the original foundation.
An excerpt from a report to the Light House Board in 1865 “The light has been restored at Stingray Point, after making certain needful repairs to the screw-pile structure, which though plundered of all movable articles, was but slightly injured.” The report does not say whether damage and plundering was due to Confederates.
Stingray Point received its name from Captain John Smith, founder of Jamestown, Virginia. It is said that a stingray stung him while fishing near the point.
Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard.
2001(c) Chesapeake Chapter, USLHS. All rights reserved.