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Fenwick Island lies at the southernmost end of
Delaware. A stone marker was placed on the
island on April 26, 1751, to mark the end of the
Transpeninsular Line. This was a boundary line needed to
settle a border dispute between Lord Baltimore of
Maryland and William Penn (when what is now Delaware
were the lower counties of Pennsylvania).
In 1856, $25,000 was authorized for establishment of a
lighthouse on Fenwick Island. Ten acres was purchased
from Mary C. Hall for $50. The station was completed
in 1859. The 87-foot tower housed a third-order
Fresnel lens. A keepers residence was built just east of
the tower, and included cisterns in the basement
for collecting rain water. The entire cost of the project
came to $23,748.96.
After an assistant keeper was added, the dwelling became
crowded - two families were living in space
intended for only one. In 1878, the Lighthouse Board recommended
an addition to the existing residence. In 1881, an entirely
new residence was built just to the west of the tower.
The head keeper moved into the new residence, and
the assistant keeper remained in the original.
Fenwick Island was extremely isolated. Access was limited
until a bridge to the mainland was first built in 1880.
A replacement was built in 1892, and again in 1934.
A concrete bridge was built in 1958.
Fenwick Island was not without its unusual tales.
After the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, the lighthouse
received signal flags in the event the Spanish fleet
was spotted along the coast. No such sightings ever occurred.
In 1895 a tug off the Fenwick Island shoals was attacked
by a pod of angry whales. The ship escaped without incident.
In 1932, the keeper at Fenwick Island found a man unconscious
in a small boat on the sandbar. The man was an eskimo
attempting to sail from Greenland to Alaska via the Panama
Canal. After receiving provisions, the eskimo went on his way.
His fate was unknown.
The lighthouse was automated in the late 1940's or early 1950's.
The light was decommissioned in 1978. The two keepers houses
are now private residences. In 1981, the State of Delaware
assumed ownership. In 1982, a
symbolic light was placed in the tower.
The Friends of Fenwick Island Lighthouse, formed in 1981,
helps preserve the lighthouse today. The stone marking
the end of the Transpeninsular Line still stands in front
of the lighthouse.
Guiding Lights of the Delaware River and Bay, Gowdy and Ruth pp. 285-288
Lighthouse of New Jersey and Delaware, Trapani p. 57
Lighthouses of the Mid-Atlantic Coast, DeWire and Johnson p. 113
Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses, Roberts and Jones p. 57
Fenwick Island Lighthouse - flyer, from the Friends of Fenwick Island
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