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Flappers and molls, zoot-suiters and swells resurrected the Roaring ’20s at Calvert Marine Museum’s Bugeye Ball. Over 200 museum supporters styled and gambled, drank, danced and devoured the cuisine of Ken Upton’s Creative Kitchen Annapolis.
Their good time means you and your family can book a weekend this summer at the Cove Point Lighthouse Inn, pretending you’re the family of keepers who kept the light shining for 184 years, starting with James Somervile.
The February 25 gala raised $25,000 to match the challenge grant given by the France-Merrick Foundation of Baltimore to finish the final phase of the transformation from keepers house to inn.
The 38-foot truncated tower-style lighthouse and its adjacent keeper’s house were built in 1828 to light mariners around the point and shallows protruding from Calvert County’s southern Bay flank.
Automated by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1986, the light still shines, making Cove Point Maryland’s longest continually operating lighthouse.
Transforming the keeper’s house rebuilt in the early 20th century is a job.
Renovation started at the top. A new roof was put on last summer. Then came the inside, a duplex with three bedrooms on each side. Drywall was removed, new insulation added and electrical wiring replaced courtesy of a $90,000 grant from the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority in 2010.
This time around, hardwood floors were refinished or replaced; Bathrooms are being updated and tiled and new appliances are coming in. Calvert artist Ann Crain is helping the Museum’s Vanessa Gill furnish the flats with “cottagy-type décor.”
“It’s going to have all the modern comforts, including a washer and dryer,” said Cimini.
Soon as it’s done, the Museum will be taking reservations for an East Coast inn without peer. “There are only 32 lighthouses in the United States that do overnight accommodations,” Cimini says. “This is the only one in the Mid-Atlantic region.”