National Register Listing

Port Mahon Lighthouse

NE of Little Creek, Little Creek, DE

The Port Mahon Light House is significant as a navigational aid on the Delaware Bay, designed to keep offshore vessels away from the Joe Flogger Shoals off Kelly Island, and as a guide to Delaware's sail-powered oyster fleet of the nineteenth and early- twentieth centuries. The importance of this particular site for navigation is under- scored by the fact that five manned light houses were built in the area between 1831 and 1903, with each one falling in succession to the forces of the increasing shore- line erosion. Today, Port Mahon Light House remains as the last material link to the vitality of Little Creek and Mahon River as the focus of Delaware's oyster industry.

Little is known about the 1831 light house, except its construction cost of $4,975.00, and that it was rebuilt in 1839 by Winslow Lewis who was contracted to move the structure to safety due to its placement in a salt marsh which regularly flooded, severely damaging the brick foundation. In 1855, the tower of the Lewis' building was remodeled and a new cast iron lantern of the 5th order installed to improve the station's service to navigation. Erosion again necessitated the resiting of the light in 1859 and, in 1860, the United States Light House Establishment negotiated the purchase of a ten-acre lot from the Mahon River Road Company.

From 1861 until 1870 only minor repairs were required for the maintenance of the Port Mahon Light House, but in 1870 a report noted:

--The abrasion of the marsh along the front of the building has been considerable. The building is on the back end of the light-house lot, and the location will have to be changed in a short time. This will require a new lot to be purchased for the building, which can probably be moved without much difficulty or expense.

By 1875, the site of the 1861 station had so badly washed that an alternate plot was chosen north of the old property, and contained two acres bounded on the south by the "Plank Road From Mahon Light to Dover." In 1876:

--The new structure at this station was completed, and the light changed from the old to the new building ... The grounds around the dwelling have been graded and raised, adding greatly to the comfort of the keeper.

Tidal wash remained a constant problem, however, and the site was periodically filled in with marsh mud and topped with layers of oyster shell to stabilize the property. By 1894, the erosion problem had again become critical and a proposal was sent to the Federal Light House Board to resite the structure. At first, it was suggested that the 1875 structure be physically moved to a more secure location:

The present building is of wood, the outer walls being lined with brick laid in mortar; hence it would be unwise to attempt its removal over the soft marsh. The Board therefore recommends that a new site be pur- chased about 1,500 feet NNW. of the present site; also that a detached skeleton wooden tower, specially designed so that it could be moved if necessary, be built for the display of this light upon the proposed new site.

The annual report of 1899 noted once more the imminent loss of the 1875 station to the tides of the Delaware Bay and an appropriation of $4,000 was made; the following year, bids were solicited for construction of the fifth light in the area. Mr. Benjamin T. Collins of Milford, Delaware, received the contract for erecting the new light in July of 1901 at a price of $9,994., with a $7,000. penalty due should the light house be unfinished after a twelve-month period. In 1903, the yearly statement described the finished structure:

The new light-house was finished, the roof sheathed, the floors laid, the exterior painted, and interior woodwork put in place and finished. The keeper moved in and the lens was set up in the new lantern. The light was exhibited from the new light-house on June 25, 1903, for the first time.

A new barn was erected. The iron oil house was erected. The remainder of the iron foundation columns of the new walks were put in place, the deck and railing put on, and the new wharf completed. Good water was obtained by boring. Various repairs were made.

A contract was made for the construction of a road running across the marsh from the highway to the new light-station.

The following year the 1875 light house was surplused, sold at auction and the lamp taken down, labeled, packed and placed in storage at the Edgemoor Light House Depot in New Castle County. The new light was manned first by Theodore H. Burton and then in succession by C. F. Burton (1911), Lewis A. Connelly (1911- 1912), and Captain Irwin S. Lynch (1912-1939). In 1938, the Port Mahon Light was electrified and operated automatically until 1949, when the Coast Guard replaced the entire complex with a smaller, fully automatic light affixed to a utility pole.

Several of Captain Lynch's children, who grew up in the Port Mahon Light House, recalled how each day the lamp had to be cleaned, refueled with kerosene from the adjacent oil house, and kept lit from sunset to sunrise. A danger signal was displayed by means of red-tinted glass which could be fastened to the light, but in heavy fog when the light was greatly dimmed, Mrs. Lynch would go down to the shoreline and bang kitchen pots together to prevent the incoming oyster schooners from running aground. Until around 1930, Port Mahon remained a primary anchorage for part of Delaware's sail-powered oyster fleet, but in the following years it was gradually abandoned and today only a few vessels remain berthed in the Mahon River. With the disappearance of the oyster schooners, Port Mahon's importance as a local anchorage diminished, leading directly to the facility's final closing in 1939. With its abandonment, the auxiliary buildings for the complex fell into disuse and through the agencies of neglect and heavy weather, have disappeared one by one. The light house itself remains intact and, although deteriorated, proposals have been advanced for its adaptive use.

With its dramatic setting in the vast wetlands adjoining Delaware Bay, the Port Mahon Light House reflects the last vestiges of the intimate relationship of domestic life and the sea along Delaware's Atlantic coastline. As a navigational aid, the succeeding generations of lights warned passing ocean-going vessels of treacherous shoals and provided a homing beacon for the Delawareans sailing in the great oyster fleet of the nineteenth century. No longer a functioning light- house, the Port Mahon light remains of significance as an evocative link to Delaware's maritime past.

Local significance of the site:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1979.