Point Lookout Survey, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland (2000.019)

This collection contains an official report, an artifact distribution table, and an excavation drawing from the Phase I archaeological investigations conducted between February 15 and May 23, 1995 on the U.S. Navy property at Point Lookout, Maryland (18ST61), and on three small Navy-owned tracts located along the Chesapeake Bay between Point Lookout and the Naval Air Station Patuxent River. These four properties presently function as radar installations or theodolite stations. Additional investigations were conducted on adjoining portions of Point Lookout State Park. The work was done in accordance with Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (as amended), and was funded by the Department of Defense Legacy Resources Grant Program. All surveyed parcels are located in St. Mary’s County, within Maryland Archeological Research Unit 10 (the Estuarine Potomac Drainage).

The project resulted in the identification of intact deposits and features associated with Civil War activities at Point Lookout, including Hammond General Hospital. Other features found in the area are believed to post-date the Civil War. Excavations in the vicinity of the Point Lookout Lighthouse also revealed intact cultural deposits. This information has shed important light on the various changes to the lighthouse and the surrounding yard which have occurred since the early nineteenth century. Because of the presence of these intact archaeological deposits, and because of the significance of Point Lookout in U.S. and Maryland history, 18ST61 is considered to be potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.