Originally installed in the second Hog Island Lighthouse on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, the First Order Fresnel Lens is one of the biggest and brightest ever built—and the only one known to exist outside a museum. The first Hog Island Lighthouse was constructed in 1852 but was destroyed by erosion. The second Hog Island Lighthouse was designed in 1896 and remained in service until it was deactivated in 1948. Also ravaged by erosion, the lighthouse joined its predecessor as an underwater relic off the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Weighing over…
