
The twenty-six-foot-tall lighthouse at the junction of the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay is one of the first generation of conical stone Maryland lighthouses constructed by master lighthouse builder Donahoo, along with Piney Point in St. Mary’s County. Built of Port Deposit granite painted white, Concord Point had whale oil lamps when first activated, but after a series of upgrades received a fifth-order Fresnel lens in 1891. A keeper’s house was built in 1827 and received a second floor in 1884. John O’Neill was hired as the first keeper, in recognition of his heroics in defending Havre de Grace from the British during the War of 1812. O’Neill descendants continued to serve in the job until the light was automated in 1918. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1975, and the property was purchased by Friends of Concord Point Lighthouse. The keeper’s house was thought to be lost, but it was still extant encased in later alterations at 714 Concord Street. The house was restored to its 1884 appearance by Friends of Concord Point Lighthouse and opened to the public in 2005.