Delaware Breakwater Range Rear Light

Delaware Breakwater Range Rear Light
Location	Northwest of Lewes, Delaware
Coordinates	38°47′23″N75°10′10″W / 38.78972°N 75.16944°W
Tower
Construction	Iron
Shape	Hexagonal skeleton tower
Light
First lit	1881
Deactivated	1918
Focal height	103 feet (31 m)
Lens	third order Fresnel Lens

Last updated November 21, 2024

The Delaware Breakwater Range Rear Light (also known as the Green Hill Light) was a lighthouse west of Lewes, Delaware. It was made obsolete by the shifting of Cape Henlopen and was disassembled and moved to Florida to become the Boca Grande Entrance Range Rear Light.

History

This light was erected in 1881 to form a range to guide ships around Cape Henlopen and into the relatively sheltered area behind it, which was also protected by the Delaware Breakwater.^[2] A typical skeletal tower of the period was constructed near Lewes on the shore of Delaware Bay and equipped with a third order Fresnel lens.^[2] A wooden keeper's dwelling was also constructed; this was supplemented with a second dwelling for an assistant in 1910, built of concrete. The original house was sold and eventually burned.^[2] Extensive ornamental gardens were planted on the grounds in 1901.^[2]

The original front light was the Delaware Breakwater Range Front Light, a much older light situated at the west end of the breakwater as originally constructed; in 1903 this light was discontinued and the Delaware Breakwater East End Light was designated as the front light instead.^[3]

the light as re-erected in Florida Gasparillalhrear.jpg — the light as re-erected in Florida

Cape Henlopen continued to shift, and in 1918 the range was eliminated and the rear light was extinguished.^[2] In 1919 it was dismantled,^[2] and in 1927 it was reassembled as the rear light of the Boca Grande Entrance Range on Gasparilla Island in Florida, where it still stands.^[3] At the original site the second dwelling survives, along with an oil house and a barn.^[2] The City of Lewes has considered restoration of the site as part of its trails system.^[2]

Related Research Articles

Lewes is an incorporated city on the Delaware Bay in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 3,303. Along with neighboring Rehoboth Beach, Lewes is one of the principal cities of Delaware's rapidly growing Cape Region. The city lies within the Salisbury, Maryland–Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. Lewes proudly claims to be "The First Town in The First State."

Cape Henlopen State Park is a Delaware state park on 5,193 acres (2,102 ha) on Cape Henlopen in Sussex County, Delaware, in the United States. William Penn made the beaches of Cape Henlopen one of the first public lands established in what has become the United States in 1682 with the declaration that Cape Henlopen would be for "the usage of the citizens of Lewes and Sussex County." Cape Henlopen State Park has a 24-hour and year-round fishing pier as well as campgrounds. The remainder of the park is only open from sunrise to sunset, and includes a bathhouse on the Atlantic Ocean, an area for surf-fishing, a disc golf course, and bicycle and walking paths. The beach at Herring Point is a popular surfing spot. The park is a stop on Delaware's Coastal Heritage Greenway.

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Cape Henlopen is the southern cape of the Delaware Bay along the Atlantic coast of the United States. It lies in the state of Delaware, near the town of Lewes, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. Off the coast on the bay side are two lighthouses, called the Harbor of Refuge Light and the Delaware Breakwater East End Light.

The Gasparilla Island Lights are on Gasparilla Island in Boca Grande, Florida. The Port Boca Grande Lighthouse is on the southern tip of Gasparilla Island, and marked the Boca Grande Pass entrance to Charlotte Harbor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Joseph Point Light</span> Lighthouse in Florida, US

The St. Joseph Point Light was a lighthouse on the mainland north of present-day Port St. Joe, Florida, across the entrance to St. Joseph Bay from St. Joseph Point. St. Joseph Bay is enclosed by St. Joseph Peninsula, which runs west some three miles (5 km) from the mainland to Cape San Blas, and then northerly 15 miles (24 km) to St. Joseph Point. An earlier light in the area was the St. Joseph Bay Light.

The Harbor of Refuge Light is a lighthouse built on the ocean end of the outer Delaware Breakwater at the mouth of the Delaware Bay, just off Cape Henlopen. It was built to function with the Delaware Breakwater East End Light in order to mark the National Harbor of Refuge.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saginaw River Rear Range Light</span> Lighthouse in Michigan, United States

The first Saginaw River lighthouse was constructed from 1839 to 1841, in a period when large quantities of lumber were being harvested and shipped from the heart of Michigan via river and the Great Lakes to the East Coast of the United States via the Erie Canal and Hudson River. This connection to major eastern markets was critical to the development of central Michigan.

Cape Henlopen Light was a lighthouse near Lewes, in present-day Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware, United States. The lighthouse was on the north side of the Great Dune on Cape Henlopen, Delaware. It was the sixth lighthouse built in the colonies.

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The New Castle Range Rear Light is a lighthouse in Delaware, United States, on the Delaware River near New Castle, Delaware.

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The National Harbor of Refuge and Delaware Breakwater Historic District encompasses a series of seacoast breakwaters behind Cape Henlopen, Delaware, built between 1828 and 1898 to establish a shipping haven on a coastline that lacked safe harbors. The Harbor of Refuge is at the mouth of the Delaware Bay estuary where it opens into the Atlantic Ocean, at Lewes.

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The Cape Henlopen Beacon was a lighthouse built to mark the point of the cape, supplementing Cape Henlopen Light just to the south. It was decommissioned in 1884 and demolished.

References

1 2 List of Lights and Fog Signals on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States. Government Printing Office. March 1, 1907. p. 114. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Delaware Breakwater Rear Range (Green Hill) Light". LighthouseFriends. Retrieved 2014-01-23.
1 2 "Boca Grande Rear Range Light". LighthouseFriends. Archived from the original on 2014-03-31. Retrieved 2014-01-22.

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[ll.1907-1] 1 2 List of Lights and Fog Signals on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States. Government Printing Office. March 1, 1907. p. 114. Retrieved 2014-01-22.

[LHF.greenhill-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Delaware Breakwater Rear Range (Green Hill) Light". LighthouseFriends. Retrieved 2014-01-23.

[LHF.boca-3] 1 2 "Boca Grande Rear Range Light". LighthouseFriends. Archived from the original on 2014-03-31. Retrieved 2014-01-22.

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v t e Lighthouses of Delaware
Main: List of lighthouses in the United States
Baker Shoal Range Front Light Baker Shoal Range Rear Light Bellevue Range Rear Light Cape Henlopen Beacon Cape Henlopen Light Cherry Island Range Rear Light Christiana Light Christiana North Jetty Light Delaware Breakwater East End Light Delaware Breakwater Range Front Light Delaware Breakwater Range Rear Light Fenwick Island Light Fourteen Foot Bank Light Harbor of Refuge Light Liston Range Front Light Liston Range Rear Light Mahon River Light Marcus Hook Range Front Light Marcus Hook Range Rear Light Mispillion Light New Castle Range Front Light New Castle Range Rear Light Reedy Island Range Rear Light