Weekend Events Feature Local Lighthouses
Celebrate St. Mary’s County’s most significant lighthouses during National Lighthouse Weekend on August 6 and 7 at Piney Point Lighthouse in Piney Point and Blackistone Lighthouse on St. Clement’s Island, near Colton’s Point.
Tours will be available at both locations during the entire weekend.
At Colton’s Point, check out the St. Clement’s Island Museum before taking a boat ride out to St. Clement’s Island. Visitors can experience a free tour of Blackistone Lighthouse from the St. Clement’s Hundred Blackistone Lighthouse volunteers. The lighthouse is a replica of the original lighthouse that stood near the same location on the island. Admission rates at St. Clement’s Island Museum are $3 for adults, $1.50 for children (6-18), and $2 for seniors and military, 5 and younger are free. The St. Clement’s Island Water Taxi is $7 per person (all ages) for a boat ride, which includes museum admission.
At Piney Point, visitors can celebrate the oldest lighthouse on the Potomac with tours of the Piney Point lighthouse tower, Keeper’s Quarters, and Potomac River Maritime Exhibit featuring full-sized workboats, two floors of brand-new exhibits in the main museum building, and the museum grounds. While admission and tours are offered free of charge this weekend, donations are greatly appreciated to support the museum.
Both museums will be open from 10 am to 5 pm each day.
National Lighthouse Day, as designated by Congress August 7, 1989, is the anniversary of the signing of the August 7, 1789, Congressional Act “for the establishment and support of lighthouses, beacons, buoys and public piers” and the date of the first commissioned federal lighthouse.
For more information about these events, call 301-769-2222 for St. Clement’s Island Museum or call 301-994-1471 for Piney Point Lighthouse Museum.
