Mispillion Light
![]() Mispillion Light | |
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Location | Mispillion River, Delaware |
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Coordinates | 38°56′51.0″N 75°18′54.5″W / 38.947500°N 75.315139°W |
Tower | |
Constructed | 1831 |
Foundation | Natural |
Construction | Wood Frame |
Automated | 1926 |
Height | 65 feet (20 m) |
Shape | Square |
Heritage | National Register of Historic Places listed place ![]() |
Light | |
First lit | 1873 |
Deactivated | 1929 |
Lens | Sixth order Fresnel lens |
Characteristic | Flashing white every 3 seconds, flash duration 0.3 seconds, with a red sector from 301° to 308° |
Mispillion Lighthouse and Beacon Tower | |
Nearest city | Milford, Delaware |
Area | 0.5 acres (0.20 ha) |
Built | 1873 |
Architectural style | Gothic Revival, Carpenter Gothic |
NRHP reference No. | 86002919[1] |
Added to NRHP | February 18, 1987 |
Mispillion Lighthouse is a lighthouse in Delaware, United States, located on the Mispillion River near Delaware Bay.
History
The original Mispillion Lighthouse was built in 1831. The second Mispillion Lighthouse was a 65-foot (20 m) 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. 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 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 remains at the original location but is not active or open to the public.[2][3]
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.[1]
References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. DE-23, "Mispillion Lighthouse[permanent dead link]"
- ^ Richard B. Carter (January 1986). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Mispillion Lighthouse and Beacon Tower". and Accompanying two photos
External links
- Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. DE-23, "Mispillion Lighthouse, South bank of Mispillion River at its confluence with Delaware River at northeast end of County Road 203, 7 miles east of Milford, Milford vicinity, Sussex County, DE"
- HAER No. DE-23-A, "Mispillion Lighthouse, Beacon Tower"
- Lighthouses completed in 1831
- Lighthouses completed in 1873
- Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Delaware
- Buildings and structures in Sussex County, Delaware
- Historic American Engineering Record in Delaware
- Milford, Delaware
- National Register of Historic Places in Sussex County, Delaware
- United States lighthouse stubs
- Delaware building and structure stubs