Point Lookout is the southernmost tip of a peninsula formed by the confluence of Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River. The state park preserves the Point Lookout Light, which was built in 1830 and the site of an Civil War prisoner of war camp, which imprisoned over 50,000 Confederate soldiers during the Civil War.
The lighthouse was in service until 1966. It is a "cupola style" lighthouse. According to a sign on the site, lighthouse keeping was one of the first no-clerical government jobs available to women. The lighthouse is rumored to be haunted. They even held a seance there once. While the state works to restore it, the lighthouse is currently not open to the public.
During the Civil War, the federal government erected a massive hospital on the point. It was built with radial spokes and was over 500 feet in diameter. It was sold off and demolished shortly after the war ended.
Also on the site is Fort Lincoln, an earthworks Civil War fort, on the Potomac River shore. All that remains of the original fort are the earthen berms. The barracks, and officer quarters of the fort and a portion of the prison pen, have been reconstructed from Army Corps of Engineers documents by the Friends of Point Lookout. These buildings are all made of wood and are not insulated. I bet it was COLD in the winter time for the soldiers stationed here. And the windows didn't open, so it was probably HOT in the summer.
I walked along the beach on the Chesapeake Bay side and found several pieces of beach glass and some nice rocks. The Potomac River side was much calmer.
I was a beautiful day and very nice to be near the water.
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