The Cape Henlopen Beacon was a lighthouse built to mark the point of the cape, supplementing

Cape Henlopen Light 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 colon ...

just to the south. It was decommissioned in 1884 and demolished.

History

Cape Henlopen 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 ...

in historic times has been gradually extending to the northwest, so that the original lighthouse,

, eventually was at a sufficient distance from the end of land to be ineffectual for marking the point. Therefore, in 1825, the Cape Henlopen Beacon was built as an auxiliary about a mile north of the older light. The Henlopen Beacon was a typical conical tower with an array of reflectors and oil lamps for the beacon. This light did not receive its own keeper's house until 1854, being maintained instead by the keeper of its neighbor to the south. This required the keeper to make multiple one mile journeys throughout the night. At the same time the keeper's house was constructed, the reflectors were replaced with a fourth order

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens developed by the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) for use in lighthouses. It has been called "the invention that saved a million ships." The design allows the ...

. In 1864 the decrepit tower and house were replaced with a screw-pile structure, though unusually for the type it still sat entirely on land, at least at first. In 1875 a fog signal was added in a separate building. The cape continued to move, and by the end of 1884 the ocean was lapping at the piles of the light, seriously threatening its existence. The lighthouse board decided against saving or moving the light, and in October of that year the light was discontinued and taken down, though the fog signal was maintained for another year until the signal at the

Delaware Breakwater East End Light The Delaware Breakwater East End Light is a lighthouse located on the inner Delaware Breakwater in the Delaware Bay, just off the coast of Cape Henlopen and the town of Lewes, Delaware. Construction and early use In 1884 a light was commission ...

(which had been lit the previous year) was operational.

References

{{authority control Lighthouses in Delaware Lighthouses completed in 1825 Lighthouses completed in 1864 Lighthouses in Sussex County, Delaware Buildings and structures demolished in 1884 Demolished buildings and structures in Delaware