The point of land that is the southern edge of the entrance to Chesapeake Bay is called Cape Henry, named in 1607 after the Prince of Wales by the first English explorers to land there.
This is an interesting pair of lighthouses. Both are called the Cape Henry lighthouse but hail from very different times.
The lighthouse on the left is made of sandstone taken from the same quarry as the White House (just not painted white). It's 90 feet / 27 meters tall. It was built in 1792 and was the first federally-funded project authorized by President George Washington. It is old. In the 1870s it was struck by lightning and severe cracks appeared in the limestone. This prompted the building of the lighthouse on the right. The "new" lighthouse is 157 feet / 48 meters tall and was built of iron. Completed in 1881, it was fully automated in 1983 and is still in use.
