USPS issues Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse Forever stamp
Commemorative item in Mid-Atlantic series celebrated in Annapolis, also available online
The Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse has helped sailors navigate murky weather near Annapolis since 1875, the only such structure on its original screw-pile foundation in the Chesapeake Bay.
Saturday morning stamp collectors and local leaders found to Annapolis their way through the rain to celebrate a new Forever stamp issued this week with the iconic lighthouse on it.
The illustration of the lighthouse was completed by Howard Coslow before his death in 2016, and captures the red roof of the building and the flocks of seagulls that congregate there.
It along with four other lighthouses are featured on a new set of stamps which were first issued Friday in New Jersey, with a second issue taking place Saturday at Susan Campbell Park.
People lined up wearing jackets and holding umbrellas to purchase the stamps from a table set up by the U.S. Postal Service as rain came down. The stamps are also available for purchase online.
USPS Maryland District Manager Le Gretta Goodwin said
the set of five lighthouses were the 7th installment in a long-running lighthouse stamp series, which began in 1990.
“They send a duel message of welcome and warning, of connection and isolation, and have come to symbolize solitude, service, history and hope,” she said. “Lighthouses represent the rich story of our nation, each as unique in design and origin as the people and the shores they protect.”
Thomas Shoal Lighthouse manager John Potvin said it is an honor. Potvin coordinated a capital campaign to save the lighthouse structure. Now all but one steel tie-rod has been replaced, assuring its existence for future decades.
“To have Thomas Point on a national stamp campaign is very important to us,” he said.
“Everyone knows that lighthouse, it is a favorite of many.”
County Executive Steuart Pittman said he is inspired by the legacy of service left behind by lighthouse keepers. The light at Thomas Shoal has been automated since 1986.
“The public servants that were out there were protecting everything. They were protecting trade, commerce and the people out there on those ships,” he said Saturday.
The mid-Atlantic series of stamps includes Montauk Point Lighthouse, built in New York in 1796, Navesink in New Jersey, Harbor of Refuge Lighthouse, built in Delaware in 1926 and the Erie Harbor Pierhead Light in Pennsylvania.