The keeper’s house at the Fenwick Island Lighthouse will undergo rehabilitation beginning this Spring. The lighthouse, built in 1858, stands on Fenwick Island off the Delaware coast, just a few miles North of the state’s southern border with Maryland. It remained in continuous use until December, 1978 when it was decommissioned by the United States Coast Guard. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places the next year. It was re-lit for non-official use in 1982 after a grassroots effort led to the property being acquired by the state government.
The Keeper’s House was built in 1882 to provide relief from the lighthouse’s crowded conditions. Rehabilitation to the site will include new windows, repairs to the wood shingle siding, improved access for visitors with disabilities, and an improved pedestrian concourse between the house and the lighthouse. The volunteer civic action group New Friends of Fenwick Lighthouse, who leases the property from the state, hope to use the renovated house as an information center on the history of the lighthouse and its keepers. Though rehabilitation will continue through the Summer season, the lighthouse will remain open. The New Friends hope to minimize inconvenience to guests during the repairs.