On June 16, 1880 Congress appropriated $20,000 for the erection of a tower near Lewes to serve as a rear range light to the existing lighthouse on the west end of the Delaware Breakwater. The breakwater was built to provide a safe harbor for vessels transiting the Atlantic Coast or Delaware Bay in times of storm. When completed, it was the second longest stone breakwater in the world – only one in France was longer. Construction on the breakwater began in 1829 and would span more than four decades including the turbulent years of the Civil War. Originally intended to have a length of 3,600 feet, the breakwater ended up being 2,586 feet long, although 1,350 feet to the west of the structure was a 1,400-foot-long stone breakwater that was designed as an icebreaker.

Delaware Breakwater Front Range Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

The lighthouse built on the west end of the breakwater in 1849 was not its first, as a light had been exhibited starting around 1838 from the roof of the dwelling constructed on the breakwater to house the project’s superintendent. The 1849 lighthouse was situated adjacent to the superintendent’s dwelling and consisted of a one and a half story dwelling that was situated above the breakwater by two brick arches that allowed the sea to pass over the breakwater and under the lighthouse. The tower and lantern room were centered above the dwelling’s pitched roof. Six lamps set in 14-inch spherical reflectors originally produced the light, but a Fresnel lens manufactured by Sautter & Cie was later installed.

Such was the state of the lighthouse on the west end of the Delaware Breakwater when construction began on its onshore companion located just over three miles to the southwest. A ten-acre site at Green Hill was purchased in December of 1880, and three months later a contract was awarded to the Phoenix Iron Company of Trenton, New Jersey to fabricate and erect the iron tower. Responsibility for the keeper’s dwelling was given to John C. Kelley of Philadelphia.

Work progressed rapidly on the station for the tower was completed and accepted on August 6, 1881, and the dwelling followed suit on September 8th. The tower stood 100 feet tall from its base to the focal plane of the lantern room, while the dwelling was a two-story affair most likely built of wood. Thomas Wright was the first keeper of the Delaware Breakwater Rear Range Lighthouse, and he activated the light on November 1, 1881 in accordance with a published notice to mariners. Paired with the light on the west end of the Delaware Breakwater, the rear range light helped define a line that guided mariners safely into Delaware Bay.

The Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board for 1898 mentions the construction of the station’s brick oil house, which remains standing today, along with the addition of a kitchen to the dwelling and the installation of a galvanized iron hand rail in the tower’s stairway. The grounds received a major sprucing up in 1901 when 600 ornamental trees and shrubs were planted and about 650 square feet of brick walkways were laid out between the dwelling, tower, oil house, and barn.

On May 25, 1903, the lighthouse on the west end of the breakwater was permanently discontinued, and the sparkplug lighthouse built on the east end of the breakwater in 1855 assumed the role of a front range light. After its deactivation, the west end lighthouse was used by the Philadelphia Maritime Exchange as a station for reporting on the movement of vessels in the bay. After the Exchange left the lighthouse in 1942 for a tower on Cape Henlopen, the lighthouse was abandoned and eventually demolished in the 1950s. All that remains of the lighthouse today is a pile of bricks and stones now located near the middle of the breakwater as the 1,350-foot gap between the breakwater and icebreaker breakwater was eventually filled in.

Delaware Breakwater Rear Range Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

A second dwelling was completed at the rear range station in February of 1910. The need for a second assistant was probably justified by his spending a portion of his time working at the Lighthouse Depot in Lewes. Being built of concrete, this dwelling was meant to last. A few years later, the original dwelling was sold, relocated, used as housing for workers at a chicken farm, and then burned to the ground around 1970.

The buildup of sand at the tip of Cape Henlopen led to the Delaware Breakwater Range being discontinued in 1918. The lens from the tower was removed and shipped to San Francisco for use in that area, and the next year the Fourth Lighthouse District in Florida expressed interest in the iron structure. The tower was disassembled in August and September of 1919 by William Rodney Robinson, but funds for relocating the lighthouse were not immediately available, so the move was delayed until adequate money was obtained in 1921. At that time, the pieces of the tower were shipped on a train from Lewes to Miami. The tower eventually made its way to Florida’s Gulf Coast where it was re-erected in 1927 on Gasparilla. The transplanted tower remains active to this day, helping guide vessels into Port Boca Grande.

A preliminary plan with four possible levels of commitment was introduced by the Lewes Greenways and Trails Committee in September of 2002 for restoring and interpreting the site of the Delaware Breakwater Rear Range Lighthouse. The first level called for the construction of a trail, signage, and leaving just the shell of the concrete dwelling for a cost of $124,000. Level two included level one but would restore the shells of the oil house and dwelling and cost $250,000. The third level added the rebuilding of the tower at a cost of $642,400, while level four included the complete restoration of the keeper’s dwelling for a total cost of $946,000.

The committee reportedly opted for an enhanced version of level two that would cost $294,000, but during a visit to the site in 2006 it was apparent that no work has started. Hopefully the project has just been delayed and Lewes will soon have yet another lighthouse destination to add to its already remarkable list.

References

1. Guiding Lights of the Delaware River & Bay, Jim Gowdy and Kim Ruth, 1999.
2. “Lewes City Council approves Green Hill Light concept,” Andrew Keegan, Cape Gazette, April 21, 2003.