The following is information on the Mispillion "Replica" under construction in Lewes, Delaware. From reading the article, I'll have to agree with Bob Trapani and the residents of Slaughter Beach. Maybe a true replica will one day stand on the actual site.
"The Milford Chronicle ran this story on the "rebuilding" of Mispillion Lighthouse this week.
http://www.newszap.com/articles/2004/07/29/dm/central_delaware/mc05.txt I sympathize with the folks from Slaughter Beach. I think all of us would feel the same way if one of our local historic icons was moved elsewhere...especially one that meant so much to its community like Mispillion Light did to Slaughter Beach and even Milford for that matter.
Reading the article, I found a couple remarks by the former owners (Burke) interesting...
Lawrence Burke said the family was "planning to toss what was left of the lighthouse into the trash constainers," and the other by Merritt who is quoted as saying, "the pieces he gave the Freemans were in such bad shape they couldn't be reassembled." That comment was real interesting in light of the current project being undertaken at Shipcarpenter Sqaure.
When you drive back Shipcarpenter Square to where the "lighthouse" is to be established, the structure currently being erected makes you wonder what actual pieces of the original lighthouse will be integrated given the fact that the contractors are building a "new house."
No doubt when the building is finished, I am certain it will "look" like the turn of the century Mispillion Lighthouse. In fact, the structure will probably be quite stunning and a unique architecural addition to Shipcarpenter Square in Lewes. I don't question that aspect. What I do question is those who might say this building will be the actual historic Mispillion Light -- especially after weighing both Merritt Burke's comments and personally viewing the actual structure currently being built in Lewes. If in the end the community says we have a replica of Mispillion Light in Lewes -- that's fine, but if we try and pass this off as the actual lighthouse, that is a reach at best. Integrating "pieces of wood or beams" from the original lighthouse doesn't qualify the new structure as historic, nor does it recreate the historic icon itself in my opinion.
My feelings are that Mispillion Lighthouse remains lost to to the pages of history, and that what is rising in Lewes will be an acrhitectural tribute to the one-time lighthouse, but certainly not the resurrection of the historic Mispillion Light when you examine the evidence.
Just my thoughts.
Bob"
