Mispillion Lighthouse is a lighthouse in Delaware, United States, located on the Mispillion River near Delaware Bay.

Mispillion Light

Mispillion Light
Location	Sussex County, US
Coordinates	38°56′51″N 75°18′54″W
Tower
Constructed	1873
Construction	wood (frame)
Automated	1926
Height	65 ft (20 m)
Shape	square
Heritage	National Register of Historic Places listed place
Light
First lit	1873
Deactivated	1929
Lens	sixth order Fresnel lens
Characteristic	Fl W 3s
1929 light
Beacon tower in 1992
Construction	steel
First lit	1929
Deactivated	1984
Mispillion Lighthouse and Beacon Tower
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Milford, Delaware
Area	0.5 acres (0.20 ha)
Built	1873 (1873)
Architectural style	Gothic Revival, Carpenter Gothic
NRHP reference No.	86002919[1]
Added to NRHP	February 18, 1987

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

External links

• Media related to Mispillion lighthouse at Wikimedia Commons
• 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"

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