September 19-20, 2015

After a one year hiatus, the 10th Maryland Lighthouse Challenge was once again held on the third Saturday in September. The theme this year was "Lighthouse Architecture" with a focus on John Donohoo, a prolific builder of Donohoo's Dozen Lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay area, including our beloved Point Lookout Lighthouse. Participants received souvenir stamps at each lighthouse they visited. Volunteers from the Point Lookout Lighthouse Preservation Society and the Chesapeake Chapter of the US Lighthouse Society welcomed 946 visitors during this two day event, which was an all time high attendance figure. We were also honored to be joined by former resident Eunice Knott, who grew up in the lighthouse and Ray Hartzel, the last keeper of the lighthouse. Ray's daughters Beth Hartzel and Karen Martin also attended the event. Ray and Eunice shared their pictures, memorabilia and stories from their time in the lighthouse, a treat for all of our visitors. The weather started out foggy on Saturday morning but the haze quickly burned off and we had a nice breeze for the rest of the weekend. Point Lookout also had one of our very rare Challenge Finishers this year! Details on finishers will be posted on cheslights.org

Sunday was also a very special day for Point Lookout Lighthouse- it was the 185th anniversary of the first time the lighthouse was illuminated! To celebrate, we had cake both days and also created a custom designed, limited edition, commemorative coin to celebrate the 185th anniversary. We still have a few coins left and will be selling them in our gift shop at our last open house of the 2015 season on November 7th, from 10 am to 2 pm.

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who joined us - and volunteered - for this wonderful event. Just two weeks later, Point Lookout took a lashing from a storm that was fed by Hurricane Joaquin. We were very fortunate that the hurricane eventually tracked out into the Atlantic Ocean.

This view greeted our volunteers and late evening visitors to the park. A spectacular finish to a spectacular event!