Mispillion Lighthouse is a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, located on the Mispillion River near

Delaware Bay Delaware Bay is the estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the northeast seaboard of the United States, lying between the states of Delaware and New Jersey. It is approximately in area, the bay's freshwater mixes for many miles with the saltw ...

History

The original Mispillion Lighthouse was built in 1831. The second Mispillion Lighthouse was a square wood tower rising from one corner of a two-story Gothic style wood keeper's house and was built in 1873. It served until 1929, when it was deactivated and replaced by a steel skeleton tower that had originally served at

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 two ...

. Over many years of private ownership and neglect, the lighthouse had fallen into an extreme state of disrepair, and was considered by '' Lighthouse Digest'' magazine to be "America's Most Endangered Lighthouse". After a fire started by lightning destroyed most of the tower portion of the lighthouse, the remains of the lighthouse were sold in 2002. A replica of the lighthouse was rebuilt at

Shipcarpenter Square Shipcarpenter Square is an historic residential neighborhood located in Lewes, Delaware. The neighborhood has well-preserved Colonial and Victorian-era houses, said to provide a bucolic setting and charm to the seaside community while preserving ...

in Lewes, Delaware, in 2004 using what was left of the structure of the old lighthouse, and based on the original plans. The new owners also made a substantial addition during reconstruction, used as their living quarters. The steel skeletal tower remained at the original location but was neither active nor open to the public until 2008 when the structure was demolished. and It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1987.

References

External links

* * * Lighthouses completed in 1831 Lighthouses completed in 1873 Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Delaware Lighthouses in Sussex County, Delaware Historic American Engineering Record in Delaware National Register of Historic Places in Sussex County, Delaware 2008 disestablishments in Delaware Demolished but still listed on the National Register of Historic Places Demolished buildings and structures in Delaware 1830s establishments in Delaware 1873 establishments in Delaware {{Delaware-struct-stub