Harbor of Refuge Light under construction

The outer breakwater was completed in 1901 after nearly a decade of construction. As the breakwater neared completion, the lighthouse board recommended a lighthouse be constructed on the breakwater to warn ships of the barrier and to mark the southern entrance into the Harbor of Refuge. The first light was a temporary beacon on a white frame tower near the site where a permanent structure was built a few years later. A 1903 storm washed the light and its fog bell away. After a second temporary light was built, this time of steel material, construction of the permanent Harbor of Refuge Light began in 1906.

A six-sided, three-story wooden structure was built, and it went into operation in 1908. But that lighthouse is not the one seen today off the Point at Cape Henlopen State Park. Mother Nature wreaked havoc on the lighthouse, moving it 2 inches off its foundation in a 1918 storm, and another 2 inches in 1920. It was rendered uninhabitable and dismantled by United States Lighthouse Service in 1925.

The second Harbor of Refuge Light, the iconic beacon still standing today, began construction in 1926. Metal work for superstructure of the new tower was erected by Smyser Royer Co. at its plant in York, Pa. The iron plates were assembled at a foundry, and after passing inspection, they were disassembled and shipped to Lewes. When completed, it had five levels, including three levels of living quarters, an entry level in the foundation and a watch room.

The Delaware River and Bay Lighthouse Foundation was granted ownership by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2004 under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. The nonprofit has worked tirelessly over the years to maintain the historic lighthouse, but Mother Nature continues to make it difficult. The foundation has suspended tours of the lighthouse as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues a study of the breakwater on which Harbor of Refuge Light stands. The Army Corps’ Major Maintenance Report recommends ways to repair the breakwater, but it has requested that no public tours be conducted until further notice. 

“Delaware Lighthouses and Range Lights” by Judith Roales provided much of the information in this story.