Waterfront real estate for $450,000? It’s a lighthouse. (2024)

The structure — three stories tall, white paint peeling off the distressed brick — can seem imposing. But inside, the station once served as a vacation home for family gatherings, retreats with friends and spur-of-the-moment getaways.

“It can be very peaceful,” said Dave McNally, the lighthouse’s owner, 73. “On a good day, you could hear the blowholes of dolphins.”

Now, after nearly two decades, McNally has put the lighthouse on the market for $450,000.

“It’s an episode in my life,” McNally said. “But I am ready for the next chapter.”

McNally bought the lighthouse in 2005, one of the first people to take advantage of a new provision in the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act that allowed lighthouses — which were federally owned — to be purchased by private citizens. As part of the deal, the Coast Guard could still maintain the light lamp atop the house to aid navigation.

According to the General Services Administration, the law affected more than 151 lighthouses — 82 of which were transferred to public entities, such as nonprofits, at no cost. About 70 lighthouses, including Smith Point, have been sold at auction to the public.

At the time, McNally lived near the Mississippi River in Winona, Minn. He said he had been a self-proclaimed “river rat” for years, and according to a Washington Post story, he had always loved lighthouses. When he considered buying Smith Point, he had never seen the lighthouse nor set foot in Virginia. His wife didn’t think he was serious until he began spreading pictures on the table over dinner.

McNally nabbed it for about $170,000.

When McNally purchased the ramshackle house, it had collapsed ceiling boards and graffiti-covered walls. Built in 1897, the house was once a key landmark for those traveling up to the Potomac River, according to the Chesapeake chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society. It was last renovated in the early 1990s.

“Everybody nowadays thinks of Baltimore, but when you go back into the 1800s, Washington, D.C., was actually one of the major ports,” said Greg Krawczyk, vice president of the Chesapeake chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society. “If you were coming in from overseas or from down south, you were looking for Smith Point.”

During his first trip inside, McNally found a crowbar hovering over a banister and an empty beer can on a shelf. A fog horn at the house would go off every 17 seconds, for every minute each day, though McNally said the cord to the horn got severed a few years back and was not replaced.

Slowly but surely, the owner gave Smith Point the creature comforts of home: electricity, hot water, a flushing toilet. The kitchen is even fitted with a portable dishwasher and ice maker.

“I can’t tell you how many boat trips back and forth I went bringing things out and taking rotten wood off,” McNally said.

McNally thought about selling the lighthouse roughly eight years ago and went out to the bay for one final adventure — a solo trip. The water was so calm, he said. For a week, McNally would sit and watch the boats pass by on cloudless days. He didn’t drag himself back to dry land until he was down to his last bottle of water and red licorice.

“I had so much fun, I decided not to sell it,” he said.

McNally said he hoped to keep Smith Point in the family, but no one wants to take up the responsibility. As he got older, it became harder for him to tend to the structure. It was time to finally let Smith Point go.

“A lighthouse isn’t for ancient people, and I’m kind of getting up to that point,” he said.

Preserving lighthouses can be a herculean task, both physically and financially, says Krawczyk of the U.S. Lighthouse Society. Smith Point is especially difficult because it’s not near land like other stations. But for the right person, perhaps someone with a nautical background, he said it is a great piece of history to call one’s own.

“We’re thrilled to see a lighthouse that actually has been maintained in pretty decent shape in the process of getting sold,” Krawczyk said. “We hope that the new owner continues to do a good job because there are plenty of them out there where the owner winds up doing nothing.”

Beth Groner, the real estate agent for the lighthouse, said her goal was not necessarily to garner a large pool of applicants for Smith Point, but to scout a prospective buyer who is ready to take the reins. The listing went up in late April, and there haven’t been any offers yet, McNally said.

“It’s certainly a challenge,” Groner said. “But just imagine the sunsets from all the way up there.”

McNally said he may be up for climbing up the old ladders in one last hoorah, but he has made no concrete plans to voyage out. Seeing the lighthouse may make it harder to have a clean break, he said. Still, owning Smith Point has been one of McNally’s favorite adventures.

“I think it’s probably been the most exciting thing I’ve ever done,” he said.