Delaware Breakwater East End Lighthouse Stands the Test of Time

The story of the Delaware Breakwater East End Light Station cannot be told without first delving briefly into the history of the Delaware Breakwater's massive stone wall. At the time of its construction, the engineering marvel that yielded the eight-tenths-of-a-mile-long wall of protection off Cape Henlopen was the second largest such work of its kind in the world. Though the breakwater's obvious value as a harbor of refuge proved immense for mariners caught in the midst of a northeast storm, the initial undertaking in the 1820s was tied more to the financial concerns and maritime losses of Pennsylvania and Delaware merchants than to humanitarian aspects.