Greenbury Point and Shoal Lighthouses: Only Yesterday

Due to a heavy increase in commerce into Annapolis Harbor and the Severn River, the Maryland House of Delegates passed a resolution to petition the Lighthouse Service to construct a lighthouse on Greenbury Point, on the north side of the entrance into Annapolis Harbor. A year later Congress appropriated $3,500 on March 3, 1847. Fifth Auditor Pleasonton instructed the Collector of Customs in Annapolis to select a site for the new station and purchase the necessary acreage. He selected Greenbury Point, but the fly in the ointment was that the owner, Lemuel Taylor, didn't want to sell his property. He placed an inflated asking price of $1,500 on the four acres the government had selected.