A few of the colonists, however, did eventually settle on the island. One of these was Dr. Thomas Gerard, who gave the island to his daughter Elizabeth upon her marriage to Nehemiah Blackistone in 1669. The island would remain in the Blackistone family for over 150 years.

Situated in the Potomac River, the small island served several purposes during the formative years of the United States. During the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the British gained control of the island and used it as a base for raiding nearby plantations and for attempts at blockading the river and Chesapeake Bay.

Aerial view of Blackistone Lighthouse in 1928 Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

A lighthouse was built on the island in 1851 by John Donahoo at a cost of $5,100 to aid commerce on the river. Known for his quality work and reasonable rates, Donahoo was contracted to build over a dozen beacons on the shores of the Chesapeake and its tributaries. Most of his lighthouses took the form of a conical tower, but the Blackistone Lighthouse consisted of a two-and-a-half-story residence with a short tower protruding through the center of its pitched roof.

During the Civil War, Confederate forces planned to destroy the lighthouse to keep it from aiding Union forces. When Keeper Jerome McWilliams learned of the plan he plead with the Confederates to spare the structure as his wife was close to childbirth and moving her off the island would endanger both her life and that of the unborn child. The Confederate officer had compassion on the couple and instead of tearing down the lighthouse opted to confiscate the supply of oil and destroy the lantern and lens.

The Blackistone Lighthouse was decommissioned in 1932, and twenty-four years later a shell from the nearby Naval Proving Ground reportedly exploded near the abandoned lighthouse and set it afire. The Navy later razed the walls of the charred structure.

The McWilliams family’s connection to the Blackistone Lighthouse didn’t end with the Civil War as Josephine McWilliams Freeman minded the light from 1875 to 1912, and it was $5,000 willed by Josephine’s granddaughter, Mary Josephine Mattingly, in 1998 that provided the seed money and inspiration to rebuild the structure.

A group called the St. Clement's Hundred was soon formed to raise the additional funds needed to rebuild the lighthouse. St. Mary's County commissioners allocated $90,000 towards the projected, and the State of Maryland contributed $275,000 in matching funds.

Don Cropp, owner of Colony Builders and project manager, was key in seeing the project completed. “We took great pains to build an exact replica of the original lighthouse,” Cropp said. “Original drawings and specifications along with old photos were followed precisely. One example of this is that the specs called for 80 18-inch Loblolly pines to be used for the beams in the floors and ceilings. We found a stand of these trees and had them cut then milled at a local Amish saw mill."

Work on the lighthouse commenced on April 13, 2007, with Maryland Rock providing the barges to transport a total of three hundred tons of materials to the island. Due to the primitive state of the island, all the supplies had to be offloaded by hand or with a skidder, and the cement used in the lighthouse was mixed by hand and transported to the site by wheelbarrow.

The lighthouse was completed in June of 2008 thanks to the efforts of an army of volunteers and generous donations from individuals and corporations. A dedication ceremony was held shortly thereafter on Sunday, June 22 for invited guests featuring talks given by Dick Gass, President of the St. Clement’s Hundred, and former Maryland Governor Marvin Mandel. The Blackistone Lighthouse Foundation will now be responsible for the lighthouse.

References

1. “Volunteers bring back the Blackistone Lighthouse,” Chris Yee, Southern Maryland, This is Living.
2. “Blackistone Lighthouse is Now Complete!,” Jackie Zilliox, Southern Maryland, This is Living.