{"nrhp_refnum":"02001439","name":"CApe Henry (Second Tower) Light Station","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Atlantic Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fort Story","county":"Virginia Beach","state":"VA","lat":36.92674544800008,"lon":-76.00633388899996,"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":"A federally owned light station on Cape Henry at the south side of the Chesapeake Bay entrance, reached through Fort Story, Virginia Beach. It centers on a 163-foot cast-iron lighthouse tower completed in 1881, with ten contributing buildings and structures.","why_significant":"The tower is described as the tallest cast-iron-plate lighthouse in the United States. It is a prefabricated, bolted iron tower with unusually refined interior detailing for a government utilitarian structure. It still holds its original first-order Fresnel lens, which remains an active aid to navigation. The certifying agency recommended national significance.","narrative":"Cape Henry's second lighthouse tower rises 163 feet above the south side of the Chesapeake Bay entrance, reached through Fort Story in Virginia Beach. Construction began in 1879 and the tower was turned over to its keeper on December 15, 1881. It consists of bolted cast-iron plates lined with brick or sheet iron on a granite foundation, topped by a black lantern holding a first-order Fresnel lens made in Paris in 1880. Black and white vertical stripes make the tower distinct from neighboring lighthouses. Inside, a tiled entry hall, Doric columns and a 207-step spiral stair show more ornament than most government utilitarian buildings. The tower was designed to be taken down and re-erected if needed, and it is described as the tallest cast-iron-plate lighthouse in the United States. The surrounding station includes keeper's dwellings, a brick oil house from 1892, a former fog signal building, a coal house and a 1935 fog signal testing laboratory. The lens still serves as an active aid to navigation.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Metal work awarded to Morris, Tasker & Company of Philadelphia; A. A. McCullough of Norfolk contracted for the landing pier","architectural_style":"No Style","criteria":[],"status_note":"The first-order Fresnel lens continues to function as an active aid to navigation. Keeper's dwellings, a former fog signal building and a 1935 testing laboratory remain in use as housing, workshop, offices and storage.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.200027-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_AK/02001439.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02001439/29fd90ce67-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02001439/29fd90ce67-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"PumpkinSky","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cape_Henry_Lighthouse_(1881,_new).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">PumpkinSky</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cape_Henry_Lighthouse_(1881,_new).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75325223","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1034445"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/virginia-beach/cape-henry-second-tower-light-station-02001439/"}