{"nrhp_refnum":"02001436","name":"Thimble Shoal Light Station","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Approx. 1.5 mi. E of Fort Monroe Military Reservation","address_restricted":false,"city":"Hampton City (Independent City)","county":"Hampton","state":"VA","lat":37.017319686000064,"lon":-76.23967758399993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-12-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Maritime History","Transportation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An offshore caisson lighthouse on the shallowest part of Thimble Shoal, on the north side of the Hampton Roads channel in the Chesapeake Bay near Hampton, Virginia, built in 1914 by the U.S. Lighthouse Board.","why_significant":"It is tied to federal efforts to build an integrated system of navigational aids for safe shipping in the Chesapeake Bay. It is also a representative example of the pneumatic caisson lighthouse, of which eleven were built in the United States, seven of them in the Chesapeake Bay and three in Virginia. It retains its lower gallery roof, a feature removed from most similar lighthouses.","narrative":"Thimble Shoal Light Station is an offshore lighthouse standing in about 11 feet of water on the shallowest part of Thimble Shoal, beside the Hampton Roads channel in the Chesapeake Bay. It is reached only by boat. A wooden caisson supports a 42-foot-diameter cast-iron cylinder filled with concrete, and a three-story conical cast-iron tower and dwelling rises from it, topped by a black fourth-order lantern. The present structure went into service on December 1, 1914, after repeated disasters at the site: a screwpile lighthouse first lit in 1872 was damaged by fire and by ship collisions, and was destroyed in 1909 when a towed schooner rammed it. The station is one of eleven pneumatic caisson lighthouses built in the United States, seven of them in the Chesapeake Bay and three in Virginia. It still has its lower gallery roof, which most caisson lighthouses lost. It was automated in 1964.","period_of_significance":"1914-1952","architect_builder":"U.S. Lighthouse Board","architectural_style":"No Style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Automated in 1964, with a solar electric generator installed in 1986-87 and a major refurbishment in 1988. The gallery roof is in poor condition, and the form lists transportation (water-related) as the current function.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.171587-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_AK/02001436.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02001436/3f54fc22ee-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02001436/3f54fc22ee-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"Tony Alter from Newport News, USA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Approaching_the_Thimble_Shoal_Lighthouse_(4085409848).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tony Alter from Newport News, USA</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Approaching_the_Thimble_Shoal_Lighthouse_(4085409848).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75325033","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thimble_Shoal_Light","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7784202"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/hampton/thimble-shoal-light-station-02001436/"}