There was the eeriest light in the sky and on the trees this evening. The rain clouds came in from the west at the same time as the sun was going down. The photos don’t capture it, but it doesn’t matter. We need the rain that’s coming in now.
The grass will approve. Of the rain, not the last of the leaking light. And so will the flowers. They’ll be interested in the rain, though the flowers will miss the light a bit. They do love to show out.
This giant hibiscus is always looking for an audience.
And the hydrangea, a bit more understated, deserves some attention too.
There are other plants and flowers to see. I’ll try to show you some more in the next few days.
Usually, that’s a code for yard work. That is the case this time, as well. Fortunately, the heat wave is about to break. I will try to get philosophical about it this time. The yard work, not the temperatures.
We return once again to We Learn Wednesdays, the feature where we discover the county’s historical markers via bike rides. This is the 41st installment, and the 73rd marker in the We Learn Wednesdays series.
The only reason I’m counting is to see where this ends up. I started from a database and I know how many markers are on that list, but I’m not sure how I’m going to reach that number. But not to worry! There’s still plenty to see! Light helps with that.
The Finns Point Range lights served as a point of entry and exit for maritime traffic between the Delaware Bay and River. In 1950, after the Army Corps of Engineers dredged the channel to 800 feet wide and 40 feet deep, the Finns Point Rangelights became obsolete.
Erected in 1876 for the U.S. Lighthouse Service at a cost of $1,200, the Finns Point Rear Range Light is constructed of wrought iron as opposed to cast iron typically used in similar towers. Wrought iron was considered ideal for a tall structure exposed to both high winds and elements because of its resistance to corrosion and stress fractures.
Prior to automating the lamp in 1939, imagine the lighthouse keeper climbing each of the 130 steps to the top twice each day – once at night to light the lamp and again in the morning to extinguish the flame.
Efforts to Save the Lighthouse
In the years following its decommissioning, the Finns Point Rear Range Light went through a period of neglect, and the lighthouse keepers home burned to the ground. The toolshed is believed to be all that remains.
Through the efforts of a local citizens group called the “Save the Lighthouse Committee” and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Finns Point Rear Range Light was restored in 1983. Today, the lighthouse is part of the Supawna Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.
The light gets its name from the 17th century Finnish colonists who settled there in the 1630s. Jump forward 200-plus years, Congress put $55,000 for two pairs of lights to help navigation. This was the second light, the rear range light.
The Kellogg Bridge Company of Buffalo, New York made the parts for this tower, and it was all shipped by rail and then carried by mules. It was designed to be higher than the first, to aid with visibility and navigation, which was placed one-and-a-half miles inland. That front range light was put in a spot prone to flooding. Today you can only get there by boat. Eventually, river dredging made the lights obsolete, so that front range light was razed in 1939.
At the rear range, over half a century, four people were in charge, Edward Dickinson (1876 – 1907), Laura Dickinson (1907 – 1908), Charles W. Norton (1908 – 1916), and Milton A. Duffield (1916 – 1933). Laura was probably Edward’s wife. But that’s just my guess based on what usually happened when the head keeper died or could no longer keep up the work. His family would keep the lights going — this was a serious business — until a new head keeper could be hired.
Sometimes they kept the job for years. Not all of the women who did this work inherited the role, but these were some of the few jobs available to women in the government that weren’t secretarial. The Coast Guard records several women who worked on various lights for decades. Just a few of them: Julia F. Williams in California, 1865-1905, Catherine A. Murdock in New York, 1857-1907, Maria Younghans, Biloxi, Mississippi, 1867-1918, Ida Lewis in Rhode Island, 1857-1911, Kathleen Moore in Connecticut, 1817-1878. Who knows how much good they did for safety and commerce. Between them, the last two women are credited with saving almost 50 lives between them.
That local preservation group the sign mentioned wanted to move the light to a park, but that project failed. They did get it put on the National Register of Historic Sites in 1978.
After the restoration in the ’80s, the tower was opened to limited touring. In 2004, a re-creation of the keeper’s dwelling was built as part of the property. Today it serves as an office for Supawna Meadows Wildlife Refuge.
If you’ve missed any markers so far, you can find them all right here.
