The troublesome Wolf Trap Shoals received a brand new 180-ton lightship in 1821. The vessel carried two fixed lights, at elevations of 30 and 38 feet, which were visible for ten miles. To further aid mariners, a fog bell was also mounted on the vessel, which was painted lead-gray and had “Wolf Trap” stenciled in black on its sides.

After forty years of service, the lightship was destroyed by insurgents in 1861 after the outbreak of the Civil War. Three years later, a second lightship was placed on the station, when the Union had the region more firmly under control.

On January 22, 1893, heavy ice floes severed the lighthouse from its foundation. A few days later, the lighthouse was found afloat near Thimble Shoals, with only its roof and lantern still peaking out above the water. Keeper John William Thomas was able to escape the doomed structure and walk across the ice to a tugboat trapped in the frozen bay. The lens and lantern room were salvaged from the lighthouse, before it was towed to shore.

These days there are no keepers to come to the aid of ship wreck victims. The lack of human personnel has also led to the inevitable deterioration of the lighthouse, so when the buoy tender Cowslip was dispatched in 1991 to repair the light, its crew had their work cut out for them. They found windows broken by bullets and storms, a leaking roof, plenty of guano, and twenty years of weather damage.

The Cowslip’s Chief Boatswain Mate was optimistic about the future of the station: “This is a strong and sturdy lighthouse and I really think (it will) last another 150 years.” Under the provisions of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, the Wolf Trap Lighthouse was offered to non-profit groups in 2004. When no applications were received, the lighthouse was auctioned online in October of 2005. Nick Korstad submitted the winning bid of $75,000, with intentions of opening the lighthouse as a bed and breakfast. Nine months after winning the auction, Korstad put the lighthouse up for auction on ebay with a starting bid of $119,000. Just hours before the auction was set to expire, a bid was made.