Fort Washington, Fort Washington Light, Northeast side of Potomac River at Fort Washington Park, Fort Washington, Prince George's County, MD
Summary
Significance: A light and fog signal were located at Fort Washington to guide ships along the Potomac River, an important shipping and transportation route from the Chesapeake Bay to the cities of Alexandria and Washington. The Fort Washington Light is unusual in that it was originally modified to support a light in 1902-04. It is rare for a fog bell tower to support both a light and fog signal. Once common at many light stations, most wooden fog bell towers became obsolete as fog bells were replaced with other types of fog signals, such as sirens, horns, and whistles.
Survey number: HABS MD-307-G
Building/structure dates: 1882 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1902 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1904 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1920 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1999 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 2009 Subsequent Work
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