Clould Cape May really have been dark until 1823? Recorded history tells us that it was. However, scattered clues point to an earlier light on this historically busy Cape: Cape May at the southernmost tip of New Jersey, marks the northeast side of the entrance to Delaware Bay. The Cape's earliest settlers were bay pilots, ship builders, and whalers. Cape May's whaling industry in the 1680's rivaled that of Cape Cod's. And Delaware Bay has been one of the nation's busiest waterways since Colonial times. The Delaware's waters reach Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, seat of the first Continental Congress. Shipping bound from Europe, New York, and New England must navigate around Cape May to sight Cape Henlopen and to enter the Delaware Bay. Yet, the Pennsylvania Board of Port Wardens chose to build a lighthouse on Henlopen in 1765-1767 in lieu of Cape May. Why? Was some unknown beacon already marking the New Jersey Cape? The Wardens did purchase land for a lighthouse at Cape May on September 23, 1785, but so far no evidence has been found of a lighthouse around that date.
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