New Point Comfort Lighthouse, New Point Virginia
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- Lighthouse
The New Point Comfort peninsula has served as a landmark to navigators entering Mobjack Bay since the seventeenth century and has been known by its present name since before 1690. The point and the surrounding shoals posed a continuous threat to navigation, thus a Congressional act of March 3rd, 1801 provided for the erection of a permanent Light there as soon as the land was deeded by the state. Five thousand dollars was appropriated for the project. The General Assembly authorized cession of the land in January, 1802, and in February a construction agreement was concluded between the Federal Government and Elzy Burroughs of Mathews County. For eight thousand, seven hundred fifty dollars, Burroughs was to produce "in a workmanlike manner a lighthouse and dwelling house with their appurtenances." The light was completed by 1805, and it was first put into use in 1806, the year that Burroughs received his final payment for its construction.
Congress appropriated seven thousand dollars in 1816 for rebuilding the structure, but this project was never carried out.
An 1852 Light House Board report for the New Point Comfort installation supplies an interesting picture of the operation of the light prior to the War Between the States. A retired sea captain, Issac Foster; was the light keeper. Living alone on the small island with his female Negro slave, he received an annual salary of four thousand dollars. The inspector found the lighthouse "moderately clean" and in relatively good repair. His major complaint was that Foster did not light the beacon until dark, believing that "there is no use in lighting at sunset". Three years later the illuminating device was found in poor condition, and it was replaced with new apparatus by 1856. The lighthouse and keeper's residence received extensive repairs after suffering neglect during the War Between the States when it was probably abandoned.
In 1930 the old mechanism was replaced with an automatic light atop the tower. The New Point Comfort Spit Light was established in the water beyond the old tower in 1963, and use of the 1805 lighthouse was discontinued by the Coast Guard. The abandoned tower still serves as day reference to passing boats.
Site Description
The site of New Point Comfort Lighthouse is a small granite rubble island at the southernmost tip of Mathews County. When the light was constructed in 1805, this point was part of a peninsula connected to the mainland, but it has since been separated and reduced by erosion to an island of about one-third acre.
The lighthouse is a tapered octagonal ashlar sandstone structure similar to the Old Point Comfort Light, built in 1802 at Fort Monroe. Both structures encase stone spiral stairs constructed in a manner similar to spiral stairs in medieval structures. Double-hung sash windows light the stair as it winds its way up to the light.
Abandonment of the lighthouse as an operating Coast Guard facility has resulted in neglect and vandalism. The walls are no longer freshly whitewashed, windows are boarded up, and the glass of the light cupola has been shattered.
The tower's stonework survives in good condition; however, and the building is in a generally sound structural state. The lightkeeper's house disappeared prior to 1963.
