Digest>Archives> December 2010

The Remains of a Once Proud Light Station

By Timothy Harrison

Comments?    


You can see an enlarged version of this picture by clicking here.
>> Click to enlarge <<
The keeper’s house at the Delaware Breakwater ...

As was reported in the December 2002 edition of Lighthouse Digest, the Greenways Trails Committee in Lewes, Delaware had introduced a nearly $1 million preliminary plan to preserve the remains of the former Delaware Breakwater Range Rear Lighthouse Station. Additionally, the plan called for interpretative displays to be installed and the creation of a bird and wildlife sanctuary with public trails. Also, a few years prior, in 1998, a crew from AmeriCorps cleaned up the site.

You can see an enlarged version of this picture by clicking here.
>> Click to enlarge <<
Ruins of the former keeper’s house of the ...
Photo by: Katherine Williams

However, Lighthouse Digest subscriber Katherine Williams and others, on a recent visit to the site, found that it had reverted back to its pre-1998 status. In fact, the sound of crunching glass from smashed bottles beneath their feet drowned out any other sounds that nature might have provided. And, even though it was the middle of the day, they were somewhat unsettled by the unsavory characters they encountered at the former lighthouse.

You can see an enlarged version of this picture by clicking here.
>> Click to enlarge <<
The road to the site of the former of the ...
Photo by: Katherine Williams

Hopefully the day will come, as the economy improves, when this site can be cleaned up, preserved and opened to the public as a nature preserve with interpretative signage about the lighthouse and the keepers who once served here. But, today it remains a shameful sign of the economic times.

You can see an enlarged version of this picture by clicking here.
>> Click to enlarge <<
In 1918 the Delaware Breakwater Range Front ...


You can see an enlarged version of this picture by clicking here.
>> Click to enlarge <<
The base of the central cylinder of the former ...
Photo by: Katherine Williams


You can see an enlarged version of this picture by clicking here.
>> Click to enlarge <<
One of the four bases that once supported the ...
Photo by: Katherine Williams

This story appeared in the December 2010 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

All contents copyright © 1995-2024 by Lighthouse Digest®, Inc. No story, photograph, or any other item on this website may be reprinted or reproduced without the express permission of Lighthouse Digest. For contact information, click here.


Subscribe
to Lighthouse Digest



USLHS Marker Fund


Lighthouse History
Research Institute


Shop Online












Subscribe   Contact Us   About Us   Copyright Foghorn Publishing, 1994- 2024   Lighthouse Facts     Lighthouse History