John and Sally Freeman of Washington, D.C., and Lewes said, April 30, they will move the historic structure to a lot in Shipcarpenter Square in Lewes. Shipcarp-enter Square is an enclave of historic buildings brought in from rural areas of Kent and Sussex counties and restored for residential use.

Among the 18th and 19th century homes in the complex is the Rehoboth Beach Lifesaving Station that once offered emergency services along the coast.

The Mispillion Lighthouse, originally constructed in 1873, provided a guiding beacon for mariners headed into Mispillion Inlet and the port facilities of Milford seven miles to the west.

Armed with precisely detailed drawings prepared for the Historic American Engineering Record, the couple plans a painstaking restoration of the lighthouse and connected lightkeeper’s quarters. David Dutton, who works with the George, Miles and Buhr firm of architects and engineers in Lewes, found the plans in the Delaware Archives in Dover. “They had been drawn in preparation for an application to have the lighthouse listed on the National Register of Historic Places,” said John Freeman.

Though the application was never filed, the plans have served as a godsend for the Freemans. “The drawings were made on site, where the Mispillion River and Cedar Creek flow into Delaware Bay,” said Freeman. “They give us exact measurements and construction details such as the kinds of shingles that were used, the style and power of lens in the light, and the number of steps that led to the top of the lighthouse tower. When we finish, the lighthouse structure will probably be in the best shape it’s ever been in, if not better.”

Finding the plans is not the only fortuitous occurrence in the chain of events leading to the Freeman’s acquiring of the lighthouse. John Freeman calls it all serendipitous.

“The day the lighthouse was struck by lightning and damaged by fire – May 2, 2002 – is the very same day we settled on the lot that will now become the new home for the lighthouse,” said Sally Freeman. “I remember driving back to Washington D.C. through severe thunder and lightning. A few days later I was looking through the pages of the Cape Gazette and saw a picture of the lighthouse after it had been damaged. It was like another thunderbolt hit,” said Sally Freeman. “I faxed a copy of the picture to John with a big yellow circle drawn around it. A few days later we tracked down the owners of the structure – the Burke family of Lewes – and started negotiating a purchase.”

In the mean time, the Freemans contacted house mover Bob Davidson and restoration contractor John Webb of Webb Building. “They took a careful look at the structure – like they were using a microscope,” said John Freeman. “They determined that there was plenty left to work with and that the structure was still solid enough to be moved. They were even able to salvage many charred boards that will still be usable.”

One big question was whether a rickety bridge nearby was stout enough to hold the load to be moved. “They considered putting it on a barge and bringing it to Lewes by water,” said Sally Freeman. As it turns out, the bridge had enough heft to carry the load.

The Freemans said Laurence Burke was happy to sell the structure and see it moved. “After the lightning and fire damage, it was going downhill fast,” said John Freeman. “Vandals were picking the structure apart and it had been condemned. Basically we saved Laurence from the expense of demolishing the structure.”

Rather than seeing the lighthouse structure damaged further over the next several months as they finalized their plans, the Freemans asked Davidson to move the structure inland to a less exposed and remote site. It’s been sitting at that undisclosed site for 18 months awaiting completion of the Shipcarpenter Square foundation.

John Freeman and the Mispillion Lighthouse have proven a good match. A Washington-based developer, Freeman has carved out a successful niche in the specialized field of historic adaptive reuse. “That means I buy historic buildings – such as old hospitals or office buildings – and convert them for uses such as residential,” said Freeman. “I’ve done that in the Midwest and along the Atlantic seaboard.”

His work often brings surprises because of the uncertain nature of old structures. In Bay City, Michigan, Freeman purchased the old Mercy Hospital to convert to condominiums. One day he found himself reading a biography of rock star Madonna, left in his home by one of his children. He found that the singer had been born in Mercy Hospital. He looked up from his reading and said: “Hey, I own Madonna’s birthplace!”

The Mispillion Lighthouse project is, however, more exciting for the Freemans. “We’ve had a romantic attachment to lighthouses,” said Sally Freeman. “I guess along with the rest of the country, because they represent a bygone era.”

The Freemans will have a good view of the lighthouse when it’s complete in about a year. The new location is across the street from another Shipcarpenter Square structure Freeman built a number of years ago for his mother. He was a silent partner in the early days of the Shipcarpenter Square project with Jack Vessels and David Dunbar. “I believed in the project, helped out with getting capital for infrastructure, and eventually bought a lot there.”

The Freemans decided to add the lot across the street because they liked the views from their house and because they didn’t want to chance someone else building something there they didn’t like. Now that decision looks like fate.

In addition to restoring the 48.5-foot lighthouse tower and lightkeeper’s house, the Freemans plan to add living space to the structure for use by their four children and families. “We’re being very careful to make sure the addition is authentic to the lighthouse period-wise,” said Sally Freeman.

The Mispillion Lighthouse, according to information provided for the National Registry application, was built in a “stick Gothic” style with an iron lantern. “It is the sole surviving wood-frame lighthouse in Delaware,” according to the report, “and it is one of only three Delaware Bay lighthouses still standing on Delaware soil.”

Mispillion Lighthouse was decommissioned in 1929 when it was replaced by a steel-frame tower that is still operated by the US Coast Guard. It was then that the lighthouse shifted to private hands for many decades of uncertainty and ultimately neglect and deterioration.
“There was a lot of sadness in the area after the light was hit by lightning,” said Sally Freeman. “People weren’t aware of the details of what was happening. They thought the building was headed for the dumpster.”

In 2001, Lighthouse Digest – International Lighthouse Magazine, designated Mispillion Lighthouse as “the Most Endangered Lighthouse in the United States.” Now, thanks to the Freeman’s intervention, that dubious distinction can move elsewhere in the country.