The tower at the old Cape Henry Lighthouse still stands, gaunt and silent, perched atop a dominating sand dune at the edge of the sea at the junction of the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Though its light is gone and repairs would be helpful, it continues as a noted, familiar and ancient landmark. Such it has been since its construction was begun in 1791.

    The location is at the south entrance to Chesapeake Bay some ten miles east from downtown Norfolk and only a mile, or two, north, up the Atlantic coast from the heart of Virginia Beach. Fort Story Military Reservation encompasses the lighthouse grounds as it does the nearby (almost adjacent) Cape Henry Memorial, a part of Colonial National Historical Park.

  The construction of the Cape Henry light stemmed directly from the act which created the lighthouse service, one of the initial acts of the First Session of the 1st Congress in 1789. It was made the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to see that the necessary contracts, to be "approved by the President," should be prepared

  A few days after passage, Washington forwarded a copy of the new act to Governor Beverly Randolph of Virginia The Virginia authorities, long in pursuit of the Cape Henry Lighthouse project, moved rather quickly. On November 13, the Virginia General Assembly, by act, provided for the conveyance of land "to the United States for the purpose of building a light-house." This was public land, not exceeding two acres, "lying and being in the County of Princess-Anne, at the place commonly called the head land of Cape Henry." This act went to Washington who later, on January 5, 1790, passed it to the Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. The new project moved along with some aid from Washington, for, on January 27, 1790, he entered in his diary that he "Did Business" with the Secretary of the Treasury "respecting the appointment of Superintendents of the Light House, Buoys, etc., and for building one at Cape Henry.

   A year lapsed between the initial Congressional appropriation and the letting of the contract for the Cape Henry Lighthouse. It was ready and duly signed on March 31, 1791, by Alexander Hamilton, representing the government, and John McComb, Jr., "of the State of New York, Bricklayer," as builder and "undertaker. 

   This contract is an interesting document and rather rich in descriptive detail. It called for McComb, with "all convenient speed, [to] build and finish in a good workman like manner a Light House of Stone, Faced with hewn or hammer dressed Stone... from the bottom of the Water Table up to the top of the Stone Wort." It was to have the shape of "an Octagon, having three Windows in the East & four in the West." In view of persisting prejudices, it is of note that "Electrical conductors to secure it from the effects of Lightning" were a contract provision.

    Further provisions called for a "frame House," 20 feet square, being "two stories high, with a frame Kitchen" and to have "Lath & plaster.  This was "for the occupation & residence of the keeper of the Light House." There was provision, too, for oil storage. McComb was to construct at "a convenient distance from the said Light House a Vault, twelve feet wide and twenty feet in length, for the storage & safe keeping of the Oil belonging to said Light House, which vault shall be arched and covered over with Sand or Earth." McComb was to provide and furnish all materials for this and other items for which he contracted.

   It was necessary to revise the foundation plans and to go 20 feet, rather than the specified 13 feet, below the water table since at the 13-foot level there was only loose sand. The base diameter was increased [from 27 feet, 6 inches] to 33 feet with an Ii-foot thick wall and "laid circular for four feet high." This required a contract adjustment of $2,500, a sum to be added to the original price of $15,200.

    On August 8, 1791, McComb estimated that he would complete the project in October 1792, and this appears to have been a sound estimate. It was on October 1, 1792, that Washington took a personal interest in the appointment of a keeper. He prepared two letters, one to Tobias Lear in Philadelphia and one to Alexander Hamilton. He requested that Lear get out the "List of Applications,...if my memory serves me many have offered, and that he look into their character. It was reported that the first keeper was one Laban Goffigan, very probably a Norfolk area man, and that the fish oil burning lamps of Cape Henry were first lighted late in October 1792.

     Benjamin Latrobe was at Cape Henry in 1798 and fortunately, as natural for an engineer, was interested in the topography and nature of the area. He made two sketches. One dated November 1793 was of the lighthouse showing it much as the contract had specified complete with weather vane and ventilator as well as lightning rods. He sketched, too, the keepers house although this is in part obscured by sand. A low structure shown on the left may be the "vault" which had been prescribed. Of the lighthouse, he wrote, in a note to Samuel Harrison "one of the Secretaries of the American Philosophical Society". "It is a good solid building of Rappahannock freestone, but has the unpardonable fault of a wooden staircase, which being necessarily soaked with Oil, exposes the light to the perpetual risk of destruction of fire." Evidently the calamity which he predicted never came although the staircase was destined to serve another 60 years.

   Latrobe spoke of the lighthouse as "an octangular truncated pyramid of eight sides, rising 90 feet to the light" and being "6 or 7 hundred yards from the beach." Having been "placed upon the highest sand hill at the Cape" the lighthouse caught the wind as it swept in and created "a perpetual whirl around it, which licks up the sand from the smooth surface of the timber [surrounding pavement], and heaps it around in the form of a basin. Where the platform ceases, the sand accumulates. The sandy rim, while it protects the keeper from the storms, renders his habitation one of the dreariest abodes imaginable.

   As the years passed, repairs, replacements, and additions were made as deemed necessary. The lantern at Cape Henry was completely reworked in 1841 at a cost of $4,000 by Winslow Lewis of Boston. The work, described in detail in the agreement, with  its appended completion endorsement, including replacement of the wooden deck by "a brick arch on which is laid a soapstone deck and the placement of a new lantern with the same diameter as the old." The lantern was glazed with plate glass (each octagon containing 12 panes of 24 by 16 inches). It was of "the same manner...as the one now at Cape Henlopen Lighthouse [Delaware]." The lantern was equipped with "18 lamps with brass burners and fitted with oil Heaters, & eighteen full twenty one inch reflectors on three tiers of circles." Again, in 1857, the Light was improved when equipped with "a dioptric Fresnel lens."

     The cryptically written report covering a special inspection of the Cape Henry Lighthouse on June 10, 1851, is both interesting and rich in operational items as of that time. It covered a wide range of detail as a few excerpts can illustrate:
 

    It was during an inspection in 1872 that the stability and safety of the old lower was first questioned. Eight years earlier it had been described as a "fine cut-stone tower...in excellent order..." Nonetheless it was now observed that there were "large cracks or openings" in the original masonry of six of the eight faces. "At present the tower is in an unsafe condition, and there is no way of repairing the damage satisfactorily, and a new one must be built. The old tower has done good service, having been built in 1791, and is now the oldest tower on the coast south of Cape Henlopen."

    These recommendations of 1872 did not get immediate attention, or at least approval, and were repeated yearly. Finally, an initial appropriation of $75,000, on June 10, 1878, paved the way for the start of a new tower and its associated facilities. These were completed at a site some 350 feet southeast from the old tower late in 1881. The last keeper of the old light and the first of the new facility, Jay D. Edwards, lighted the new beam on December 15, 1881.

   After the new light was placed in operation at Cape Henry, it was duly reported, in 1882, that: "The old tower remains a daymark, and it is also used as a basis for coast survey triangulation." It ceases to be noted otherwise for any lighthouse purpose. II did continue as a landmark and, on April 29, 1896, the president and other officers of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities journeyed from Richmond "down to Cape Henry~and, placed upon an old lighthouse, the use of which has been granted us by the United States government, a tablet marking the first landing of the English colonists on Virginia's soil..." Thus, the old tower became a forerunner of the Cape Henry Memorial to which its shadow will reach on a late summer afternoon. It is reported that there was assistance from the Norfolk supporters, especially in affixing the tablet to the tower walls, and that the "ceremonies connected with the unveiling were beautiful and impressive." The tablet even now remains attached.

    The Association maintained its interest in the old lighthouse and this interest led to the transfer, by the United States, of the old tower and 1.77 acres of ground associated with it. The authority came from an act of Congress of June 18, 1930, which was implemented by deed of August 1 the same year, reserving only a water main route and access to it. The act described the area as "the site for the Old Light Tower at Cape Henry, including the abandoned lighthouse Lower and gave metes and bounds which were recorded in the deed. Clearly, the Congress recognized, the "historic interest" of the structure and sought to insure "public" use.
   The Norfolk Branch (now Southeastern Branch) of the Association has remained proud of the old lighthouse tower. Often the chief hindrance [of maintenance] has involved a lack of funds but not a lack of cooperation for the Fort Story post officials as the annual reports of the Association.

  This article was condensed from a 1962 Survey Report by the late Mr. Charles E. Hatch Jr.. Chief Park Historian Colonial National Historical Park.

  As the official symbol of the City of Virginia Beach, the Cape Henry Lighthouse receives 30,000 visitors annually. During the Lighthouse's bicentennial, the APVA contracted for an extensive Historic Structures Report to provide recommendations towards upgrading its preservation and interpretative efforts. As a direct result, the APVA has installed ventilators to increase air flow between the original stone exterior and the 1867 brick liner. A topographical survey was conducted to record the changes in the dune's configuration caused by the constant winds. Approximately seven feet of the Aquia sandstone foundation has been exposed from these winds. Blowing sand has eroded the stone itself to a depth of four inches in some places. Studies are on line to suggest solutions to these erosion problems.

The Cape Henry Lighthouse opens to visitors from 15 March through October from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. A moderate admission is charged. For more information or group arrangements please call (757) 422-9421.