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While we were staying at the Lighthouse Club Hotel in Ocean City, Maryland, we went out looking for the Fenwick Island Lighthouse.  The lighthouse is located in Delaware, so we figured we had a bit of a drive to get there, but the clerk at the hotel told us to just head north and turn at 152nd street, and there it would be. 

Fenwick Island Lighthouse Lighthouse_club_hotelThe Lighthouse Club Hotel

Well, I overshot the street by one block. 

We saw the lighthouse, and after maneuvering around the neighborhood, we came in from behind.   My first comment to Elizabeth was "it's in a damn trailer park, can you believe this".   The poor little 84 foot brick tower is lost in a different era.  Behind it is a trailer park, and across the street are condominiums.  In the blocks that surround the lighthouse, 15 and 20 story hotels hide it from view.   But it's a really nice lighthouse, certainly worth the visit. 

It was restored in 1997 by the organization "The Friends of Fenwick Island Lighthouse", and the effort was spearheaded by Dorthy and Paul Pepper.  Here's a really good story about that effort.

It was commissioned in 1859 and automated in 1940.  At one time generators on site powered it.  It is equipped with the  original third order Fresnel lens has all the original keepers dwellings intact.  The light can be seen 15 miles at sea.   The lighthouse has an unusual design in that the outer brick tower is conical, while a second inner brick tower is an 8-foot diameter cylinder.  The site of the lighthouse is also unusual. It sits exactly on the eastern origin of the Mason-Dixon Line--the border between Delaware and Maryland that was surveyed in 1751 by the two English engineers with those names. A stone marker indicates the site, with one side of the marker bearing the coat of arms of William Penn and the other that of Lord Delaware.  

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There are two houses on the site, both built in 1859 also.  There is also a 1881 keepers welling, a garage, a barn, a cistern located under the 1859 house, and a 1940's generator house.  I was told by a person that lives near the lighthouse that it is now solar powered. There are large solar panels located to the left of the lighthouse.  There is also a really ugly protective fence around the lantern room of the lighthouse.  The lighthouse is operational, and is open for tours by appointment.    You can call 410-250-1098 to make arrangements.  We did not get the tour.  It is owned by the State of Delaware on lease to the Friends of Fenwick Island Lighthouse.  It is located on the Delaware / Maryland boarder just north of Ocean City, Maryland. 

 

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