Brandywine Shoal Lighthouse

Year Built

1850

Cost

$30,000

Type

Conical/cylindrical house with lantern on top

Height

46 feet

Location

Lower Delaware Bay

Automated Year

1974

First Lit

1914

Lens Type

Third order Fresnel lens

Fog Signal

None

Year Deactivated

Active

Color

White with red top

Last Keeper - Date

Raymond O. Davidson, Jr. (1969 – at least 1970)

Description

Still standing and not open to the public.

Brief History

•  1851, the lighthouse became the third one in the United States to be equipped with a Fresnel lens.
•  The station had a house in the shape of a cone made of cast iron plates and lined with wood. The first floor contained a kitchen and store room, the second floor had sleeping rooms and an oil room.
•  1914, the third-order Fresnel lens was transferred from the old lighthouse to this new lighthouse and first lit in the new location on October 20, 1914.
•  In 1974 the light was automated, at which time it was the last manned station in the Delaware Bay.
•  In June 2011 the lighthouse was declared excess to the needs of the U. S. Coast Guard and offered to eligible organizations under the provisions of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000.