Christmas Begins At Piney Point As Visitors Explore Southern Maryland’s Waterfront Traditions

PINEY POINT, Md. — Families visited Piney Point Lighthouse Museum and Historic Park’s second annual Evening Tides: Candlelight Christmas Saturday, a preview event kicking off the museum’s Holidays at Piney Point Lighthouse Museum daily events running through December. The candlelight celebration filled the waterfront grounds with holiday lights, children’s activities and community traditions.

Evening Tides brought visitors through the historic lighthouse site for Christmas trees, a scavenger hunt, craft activities and local vendor shopping opportunities. Children paused for storytime with Buddy the Elf in the museum, met Frosty the Snowman wandering the grounds and sat with Santa and Mrs. Claus in the Potomac River Maritime Exhibit building, while Christmas carols were sung by the Great Mills High School Bella Choir.

The grounds featured 18 themed and decorated trees, a community firepit, hot drinks and Christmas lights on the lighthouse and keeper’s residence. The museum also continued its annual Interlocking Building Bricks Lighthouse Challenge and hosted a Lighthouse Keeper Scavenger Hunt that invited guests to find brass bells displayed on Christmas trees across the site that listed the names and service years of former lighthouse keepers.

Janet Cooper, administrator of the Friends of the St. Clements Island and Piney Point Museums, said this year’s Candlelight Christmas was a preview event for a look at the monthlong Holidays at Piney Point Lighthouse Museum celebration, and included some extra activities throughout the museum buildings.

“This is our holiday preview,” Cooper said. “We have Santa and Mrs. Claus, we have Buddy the Elf who will be doing storytime, we have Bella Choir [from Great Mills High School] caroling and we have a s’more pit.”

Local vendors offered handmade goods, baked treats and coffee. The museum store welcomed holiday shoppers and promoted regional gifts, ornaments and children’s items.

Tea’s Heavenly Treats joined the Evening Tides event at Piney Point Lighthouse Museum as one of the featured pop-up vendors offering homemade cookies and specialty baked goods for visitors. Teandra Thompson, owner of Tea’s Heavenly Treats, said she participated in the Evening Tides event to connect with the community and that she sells her treats at pop-ups throughout St. Mary’s County.

“We are here at Piney Point to be a vendor,” Thompson said, as she described her products on display. “We have delicious chocolate chips, snickerdoodles, Christmas cookies in a jar, a little bit of everything.”

Meg Leahy, a Piney Point resident, brought her WashedupMD artwork and crafts to the Evening Tides celebration, showcasing pieces made entirely from materials found along St. Mary’s County beaches. She repurposes sea glass, oyster shells, driftwood and other washed-up items into framed art and seasonal ornaments for small community pop-up events.

“This is literally all from St. Mary’s County,” Leahy said. “All the sea glass, oyster shells, stones, pottery has all washed up on the beaches of St. Mary’s County, and then I repurpose everything.”

Candlelight Christmas Event Welcomes Newcomers To St. Mary’s County Traditions

Caleb Beam and Chabely Rodriguez visited the Evening Tides: Christmas Candlelight event at Piney Point Lighthouse Museum during a date night, and they said the experience introduced them to local traditions they had not expected to find in Southern Maryland. The recently engaged couple is temporarily living near the area following military assignments and said the museum offered a meaningful way to explore Southern Maryland’s seasonal events.

Beam said he arrived without knowing what the evening included, as the evening was a surprise spearheaded by Rodriguez. He added that the visit fit into their plans to spend the holidays together.

“She did not tell me what was going on, I was surprised,” Beam said. “We went to a gift shop first and we looked at the little [interlocking brick] lighthouses and voted on them.”

Rodriguez said she found the event while searching online for things to do in the region. She said the Bella Choir from Great Mills High School really stood out to her when they arrived, and that the music was enjoyable.

“I went online, I was like is there anything going on this weekend, and then this is one of the options,” Rodriguez said. “When I saw the carolers, I thought it was nice, it is nice to hear.”

The Evening Tides: Christmas Candlelight event was designed to bring more local residents into the historic Piney Point Lighthouse Museum while showcasing seasonal activities across the grounds. Tina Riley, a museum associate, said the museum remains decorated through the end of the year, which includes the full run of the lighthouse keeper scavenger hunt and all 18 themed trees.

“It has been fun,” Riley said. “It’s a great place to come out and see the local history, and a good place to spend a couple of hours, have a tour and enjoy.”

Museum Board Chair Brings Holiday Cheer As Buddy The Elf At Piney Point

Michael Blackwell, who appeared as Buddy the Elf during the candlelight event, said the museum’s holiday programs highlighted the breadth of local history and offered families an accessible way to explore the site. Blackwell is the director of the St. Mary’s County Library, but he also serves as chair of the museum board and has been involved in local museum advocacy for nine years. He said the candlelight evening gives visitors a broader look at the property and that exhibits across the museum grounds provided different entry points into the county’s past.

“The lighthouse is fun, you can climb the lighthouse,” Blackwell said. “The lighthouse keeper area has a lot of period furniture, over in the other building there are all kinds of boats and exhibits about life on the Potomac and life on the bay, there is a skipjack over there so you can get on the boats and see what they were like.”

Piney Point Lighthouse Museum: St. Mary’s County History And The First Lighthouse On The Potomac

Piney Point Lighthouse Museum offers visitors a direct connection to the maritime history of the Potomac River with exhibits that highlight lighthouse operations, watermen culture and regional military history. As the oldest lighthouse on the Potomac, and a National Register of Historic Places site, the museum provides year-round access to the waterfront along with a buy-one-get-one membership promotion through December.

Piney Point Lighthouse Museum & Historic Park
44720 Lighthouse Road
Piney Point, MD 20674
(301) 994-1471

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