The Mathews County Sheriff’s Office is offering a $500 cash reward to anyone who can provide information about a break-in that occurred at New Point Comfort Lighthouse sometime between April 30 and May 14, when the unauthorized entry was discovered by a county employee.
The door and lock of the lighthouse were damaged during the break-in, said a press release from Mathews Sheriff April Edwards. The intruder tried to kick in the wooden door, damaging it, then used a rock to bash in a heavy-duty padlock to enter the building, she said. The lock on the door itself was unlocked due to corrosion from exposure to saltwater.
A county employee regularly visits the lighthouse to check on it, said Edwards, and had last made a check on April 30.There was no further damage to the structure, she said. A criminal investigation is underway.
The lighthouse, commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson, is over 220 years old and one of the oldest lighthouses in the United States, said Edwards in the pres...