On top of a 22 foot hill this 142 foot tall Lighthouse is a beauty

Here is an excerpt from that sheet on the lighthouse keepers:

The first keeper of the lighthouse was Mr. David Watson, who assumed the duty in the year 1833.  Since Watson some of the early keepers who       served were Edgar Hopkins, John L. Anderton, Samuel Quillen, and William T. Collins who served until may 1st, 1933.  At that time the lighthouse was converted from oil to electricity.  Mr. Collins was then transferred and D. D. Peterson who was keeper of Killock Shoal Light took over the responsibility of keeping the batteries charged at the light once a week.  Then in March of 1942 Norman Jones relived Mr.Paterson and continued as the keeper until the Coast Guard took over and supplied the lighthouse with commercial power.

Assateague Island Lighthouse is only open for climbing a few times during the year.   Those times are Mother's day weekend, and Memorial Day weekend.  June 19th & 20th, July 3rd and 4th, August 14th and 15th, September 4th and 5th, and October 9th and 10th.  I got these dates off a handout in June 1999, so if you're reading this and its 3 years later, those dates may no longer be good.

All tours on given days are from 9am to 3pm only, and are conducted by the US Coast Guard.  The number on the visitors sheet for more information is 757-336-2872.

You can visit the lighthouse any time the park is open.  It cost $5 for the car.

I followed the perfect driving instruction given on the website of the Chesapeake Chapter of the US Lighthouse society.  You will find them here - http://www.cheslights.org/heritage/assateague.htm

They have a printable map there also.

Hope you enjoy your visit

.

Assateague Island Lighthouse is one of the rare lighthouses that is still in a fairly remote area.  You've got a quarter mile hike up a loose dirt trail to get to it.  It's quite a sight up there in the woods, high on a sand hill.

    
Assateague Lighthouse is 142 feet tall, it stands on a hill some 22 feet above mean high water, and it's a monster, at over 27 feet in diameter at the base.  Painted in Red and White horizontal stripes, it's not only a colorful symbol of the Island and the area, but a monument to the changing ways of nature.

When the lighthouse was first constructed, it was situated on the southern tip of Assateague Island.  But the constant deposition of sand has added so much land to the southern part of the island that the lighthouse is now far inland.

Built in 1833 at a cost of $55,000, the lighthouse was eventually rebuilt into its present form in 1867.  Over the years this lighthouse has used candles, a standard oilburner plunger lamp that required    seven keepers to maintain, and finally electricity to give this lighthouse it's light.

The keeper's house, which is located adjacent to the lighthouse, once housed the small army of keepers needed to maintain this light.  It is now used as a residence for Wildlife Refuge Personnel.

In 1939, when the lighthouse service merged with the Coast Guard, generators where installed to power the new, flashing electric light.

The present revolving light was installed in 1963 when power lines were extended to the island.

The Assateague Lighthouse is located on the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.   You have to go by a large, very cool looking NASA tracking station to get to the island.  It looked as though tours were available for the NASA station, but we didn't have time to stop. There was a shuttle mission going on at the time we passed and the    dishes were moving all over the place.

We made a wrong turn and overshot the lighthouse parking lot on the first try.   Before we turned around we saw a small herd of wild horses off in the marsh.   This was worth a stop for a picture.

Don't waste your time on the park ranger station/museum if you're only interested in the lighthouse.  There was nothing there about it except a small, cheaply printed one-sided B&W sheet.