Welcome to the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse, the oldest surviving screw pile lighthouse built as an aid to navigation on the Chesapeake Bay. The lighthouse was built in 1856 at the mouth of the Patapsco River, where it marked the shoal known as Seven Foot Knoll for 133 years.
The innovative screw pile lighthouse design, which made its first appearance in the United States in 1850, eliminated the need for underwater masonry foundations to support a lighthouse. Screw pile lighthouses were suspended above the water by a system of cast-iron pilings with cork-screw-like bases which could be screwed into the soft mud of the sea floor. The Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse, which was the second screw pile built on the Chesapeake Bay, was constructed with nine cast-iron screw piles supporting a gallery deck some nine feet above mean high water. The original house built atop the gallery deck was made of 1" thick rolled iron plates bolted together. The structural members were prefabricated at the Baltimore iron foundry of Murray and Hazelhurst, and the total original cost of construction was $43,000. The original house was replaced sometime in the late 19th century by the present wrought iron, riveted superstructure. The lighthouse was equipped with a 4th order Fresnel lens visible for 12 miles.
From 1856 until 1919, keepers at Seven Foot Knoll lived in the lighthouse along with their families. Between 1919 and 1948 keepers worked in pairs, and received 8 days of shore leave per month. On August 21, 1933, lighthouse keeper, William J. Steinheise, risked his life in the face of fitfeen-foot seas and 90 mph winds to assist the tugboat Point Breeze which foundered in heavy seas nearby. After hearing a distress whistle shortly after midnight Mr. Steinheise took the station's small motor launch in the direction of the whistle and was able to rescue five crewmen from drowning. For his action, Mr. Steinheise was awarded the Congressional Medal of Valor.
The lighthouse was automated after World War II. The Coast Guard maintained the light, but the building fell into disrepair. Finally, the Coast Guard decided to retire the light and replace it with a new navigation marker. The lighthouse was moved to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore in 1988.
The Coast Guard generously donated the lighthouse to Baltimore City in 1989 to be preserved as an historic landmark. After cutting through the pilings, the lighthouse was carried by a barge and crane to its present location on Pier 5. With grants from Maryland Historical Trust and Wheelabrator Corporation and enthusiastic help of the Steinheise family, volunteers and students the restoration project was completed in approximately one year.
In 1997 the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse became part of the Baltimore Maritime Museum to be preserved for generations to come.