Sue is out of town, in Albuquerque, I'm at loose ends and its the weekend - so time for a ROAD TRIP! And what better to motivate a road trip than a lighthouse search. I decided on doing the lights of Delaware, since my last road trip had been the Chesapeake and Potomac shores of Maryland. With my new lighthouse map, my Web page lighthouse listings and my GPS (Samantha), I left at about 8:30 and headed East. The first light I stopped for was in Maryland; one that had I had taken pictures of several times as we drove across the Chesapeake Bay bridge - and every time it was too blurry. But today I got a good view of the Sandy Point Shoal Light.
And as a bonus, I could see off in the distance the Baltimore Light.
The first new light I headed for was the Bethel Bridge light, close to the border with Delaware. There was a crafts fair in the town of Chesapeake City and across the small harbor, there was the Bethel Light. A very very small light - it is actually a replica of a light that was used for navigation on a channel that cuts across Maryland and Delaware from the Chesapeake Bay to the Delaware River, the Chesapeake and Delaware canal. This canal dates from 1830. Along the way, the Fall colors were just spectacular.
The next light I looked for was close to the C&D canal. As I was driving to it, following Samantha's directions, I was confused, since I was getting close to the light's location and there was no water in sight. And there, in the middle of nowhere, in someone's back yard, was this huge tower with a light on the top. This is the Liston Rear Range light. Now that was a surprise.
The next two lights I found confirmed the "special" nature of the Delaware lights I was seeing today - many were range lights and meant to be used for navigation on the Delaware River by lining up pairs of lights to maintain a course. Thus they are simple towers with a light - not quite what I'd call a lighthouse but interesting and finding them still affords the interest of the chase. The left light is the Baker Rear Range light, just south of the C&D canal; the right light is the New Castle Range light located north of the canal.
Out in the country, with the Fall colors all around, I find another lonely soldier in the Range Light family, on the edge of a farmer's field, with an old abandoned wood shed next to it. The Reedy Island Rear Range light. I felt a sense of satisfaction at finding this land locked light and the colors are so beautiful. What a day!
My next stop was a light that has seen better days but now has a new life. This is the Mispillion Light. At the end of a narrow road, in the parking lot of the DuPont Nature Center, with old junker trucks and general decrepitude all around, is this tower, where once there was a range light. The light started life, in 1831, associated with a house. Over time, it was placed on a tower, and that is all that is left by the Delaware River. But the light is now incorporated into a house in the very nice little town of Lewes to the south. After some searching, I found the house and the light. Good for it - we all should be so lucky!
Why do I look for lighthouses - the first picture below sums it up, with the sand, the ocean and the sky all in one frame and the lighthouse I search for a small object on the horizon. It is getting close to the end of the day and I am thinking about heading home - it will be a long drive and I am not comfortable driving after dark - but look at this scene! This is the Delaware Breakwater Light. A reward for my travels. A closeup of the light is the next picture.
I am even rewarded with a view of another close light, the Harbor of Refuge Light - and both are lighthouses, as opposed to the rather funky range lights this trip has mainly found. Happy in my day, I head home.
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