A spectacular 19th century creation that’s been sitting in a Maryland office building for 40 years will soon go on public display.
It’s a sparkling Fresnel lens that used to be part of the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse off the shore of Annapolis.
“It kind of looks like a prism with many, many facets,” Chesapeake Bay Magazine Editorial Director Meg Viviano told WTOP. “It was designed in this ingenious way to be able to shine … up to 20 miles away, which is pretty amazing for its time in the 1800s.”
The lens — which weighs 475 pounds — was removed in 1986 when the lighthouse became automated.
Since then, the lighthouse component has sat in a display case out of sight of the general public, in a Coast Guard office building in Baltimore.
“They were concerned, of course, that it’s very valuable,” Viviano said. “It wouldn’t be safe to keep it at the lighthouse, and they just wanted it in a place where they could take care of it.”
Now, there are plans to move the lens to the Annapolis Maritime Museum, and make it the center of a new exhibit space.
Viviano said the goal is to move it out of its current location in the spring, and that won’t be easy.
“There are apparently only four lampists in the country who are qualified to actually move and handle a Fresnel lens,” she said. “One of them is going to come … and disassemble it into hundreds of little fragile pieces so that the crystals do not crack when it’s moved.”
How soon the lens will go on display isn’t clear yet.
The lighthouse, which turned 150 years old last year, offers public tours during warmer weather.
See photos of the lens and read more about it on Chesapeake Bay Magazine’s website.
