Statement of Significance (as of designation - January 20, 1999):
Thomas Point Shoal Light Station is the last unaltered screwpile, cottage-type lighthouse on its original foundation in the United States. Screwpile foundation technology greatly improved the U.S. aids to navigation system in that it allowed lighthouses to be built in offshore locations that previously could only be marked by buoys or expensive lightships. As many as 100 spider-like screwpile lighthouses were built throughout the Carolina sounds, the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, along the Gulf of Mexico, and one even at Maumee Bay on Lake Erie in Ohio. Replacing an onshore station in 1875, the Thomas Point Shoal Light Station continues to serve as an active aid to navigation maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Thomas Point Shoal Light Station is in good condition with no major structural deficiencies. It was excessed by the US Coast Guard in 2002 using the process set forth in the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 (NHLPA), 16 U.S.C. § 470w-7, an amendment to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, that provides a mechanism for the disposal of federally-owned historic light stations, The NHLPA recognizes the cultural, recreational, and educational value associated with historic light station properties by allowing these to be transferred at no cost to federal agencies, tribes, state and local governments, nonprofit corporations, educational agencies, and community development organizations. These entities must agree to comply with conditions set forth in NHLPA, and be financially able to maintain the historic light station. The eligible entity to which the historic light station is be conveyed must make the station available for education, park, recreation, cultural or historic preservation purposes for the general public at reasonable times and under reasonable conditions. The Light Station has been transferred to a partnership consisting of the City of Annapolis, the Annapolis Maritime Museum, and the U.S. Lighthouse Society - Chesapeake Chapter.