the first lighthouse to be authorized by the US Congress was constructed at Cape Henry in 1792
Source: Maryland Center for History and Culture, View of the Lighthouse at Cape Henry Virginia, Looking to the North by Benjamin Latrobe, 1798 (Object ID 1960.108.1.4.7) and Library of Congress, The Old (1792) Cape Henry Lighthouse
The first US Congress started doing business on April 6, 1789 in Federal Hall in New York City. On April 21, James Madison proposed using Federal revenue to construct lighthouses. On August 7, 1789, the ninth bill passed by the new Federal legislature transferred 10 lighthouses which states had previously built to the national government and called for construction of a new lighthouse at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay.
On March 26, 1790, President Washington signed the first Federal infrastructure bill, for construction of "Lighthouses, Beacons, Buoys, and Public Piers." The legislation specifically authorized funding for construction of a new lighthouse at Cape Henry. Preservation Virginia says:1
The Virginia General Assembly had authorized construction of a lighthouse at that location in 1720. The colonial legislature required support from the colony of Maryland, plus approval from the Board of Trade in London, to use royal shipping duties to fund the planned construction.
Getting that support for a lighthouse required decades. The Virginia General Assembly expressed support in 1720, 1727, and again 1756. In addition to the difficulty in getting cooperation from colonial officials in Maryland, shipowners objected to the tax that would fund the project. British officials endorsed the project in 1758, and Maryland finally committed to it in 1772. Stone was shipped to the site in 1774, but construction stopped at the start of the American Revolution.
Governor Beverly Randolph transferred Virginia's ownership of the Cape Henry site to the Federal government on August 9, 1790. That deed was officially recorded in the Princee Anne County courthouse on July 10 1878.
The foundation was placed on tall sand dune, with a foundation dug 20 feet deep in the sand. Aquia sandstone, brought from the Public Quarry on Government Island in Stafford County, was used in the foundation. More sandstone from the Aquia Formation, known as "Rappahannock freestone," was brought from quarries near Fredericksburg for the rest of the structure.
The lighthouse was contracted to be 26 feet in diameter with walls six feet thick at the bottom, 13 feet below the water table. Initial construction reveled a need to dig deeper to get past loose sand. A contract modification led to a foundation being 33 feet, with an 11-foot thick wall at the bottom.
The eight-sided structure tapered to 16 feet in diameter at the top 72' above the water table, where a lighning rod was installed. After 14 months of construction, the lamps were lit on November 17, 1792.
The oil lamps at the top, initially surrounded with glass but no magnifying lens, were fueled by fish oil starting in 1792, Later, sperm oil, coal oil, lard oil, and kerosene were used. The first glass intended to magnify the beam of light was installed around the lands in 1812, and a Fresnel lens was completed in 1857.
A small house was built for the lighthouse keeper, and a separate structure for storing the oil used to create the light at night. Wind constantly blew the sand at Cape Henry and piled it up around the lighthouse keeper's dwelling. Wind also excavated a moat within the sand around the lighthouse that at times was deep enough to expose the foundation.
During the War of 1812, British troops raided the lighthouse keepers home for supplies but did not damage the light. At the start of the Civil War, Confederates destroyed the lamp and lens at the top when they evacuated Norfolk in 1862.
Union shipping relied upon a lightship to mark the location of shallow Horseshoe Shoals until the lighthouse was repaired in 1863. The wooden staircase in the interior was replaced with a cast iron staircase with 191 steps. That change also reduced the risk of fire, since various accidental spills and dripping of oil carried to the top of the structure since 1792 had soaked into the wood.
In 1870, the first black lighthouse keeper was appointed. The position was a Federal patronage job, and Augustus Hodges Willis was a solid Republican supporting President Ulysses S. Grant.
two lighthouses at Cape Henry
Source: National Archives, Virginia - Cape Henry (1933 or earlier)
After cracks were discovered in the rock walls of the 1792 lighthouse, a new cast-iron lighthouse was built nearby in 1881. Building a replacement lighthouse, rather than repairing the cracked walls, produced a taller structure whose light could be seen further away in the Atlantic Ocean. The new lighthouse went into operation on December 15, 1881.
In 1930 the Federal government donated the old lighthouse to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (now Preservation Virginia), so it could be conserved as a historic landmark.
Hurricane Barbara damaged the rooftop of the old lighthouse in 1953. Repairs were completed in 1958.
A retaining wall was constructed in 2018 around the foundation to improve the 1792 structure's stability. Further repairs in 2025 utilized the Aquia sandstone which had been brought to Cape Henry in 1774. Only some of that stone was incorporated into the lighthouse in 1792. By the time the Federal government started to build its first lighthouse, drifting sand had buried the stone 20 feet deep.
The new (1881) black and white lighthouse, 165 feet high, had a kerosene-fueled light that could be seen 19 miles away. Until 1922, when the light was converted to use electricity, it had shined continously out to sea at night. Starting in 1922, the Cape Henry Light began to use a distinctive pattern of illumination/darkness to provide a distinctive signal.
The 1881 lighthouse is still in use. The U.S. Coast Guard manages the fully automated lights.
The old 1792 tower is still standing. Preservation Virginia manages the 1792 lighthouse and keeps it open for public tours. Visitors must pass through a military security gate, because both lighthouses are on the site of Joint Expeditionary Base Fort Story.3
inside the Fresnel lens at Cape Henry lighthouse
Source: National Archives, Virginia - Cape Henry (1933 or earlier)
Virginia lighthouses in 1848
Source: Library of Congress, A chart exhibiting the light houses and light vessels on the coast of the United States of America: from Maine to Virginia inclusive (1848)