On March 3, 1857, Congress appropriated $40,000 “For rebuilding and fitting with firstorder apparatus the lighthouse at Cape May entrance to Delaware Bay.” That appropriate fired the final broadside into the 10-year-old lighthouse.
- Sentinel of the Jersey Cape by John Bailey
On Saturday, Oct. 31 about 100 people gathered at the base of the 150-foot Cape May Lighthouse to celebrate its 150th anniversary and its third known configuration. Bailey’s research unearthed a quote from one of the Island’s founding families, the Hands – “Japhet Hand was born in a lighthouse at Cape May, New Jersey,” in 1815 or 17. But the first known lighthouse was commissioned in 1822. Twenty-four years later, however, erosion threatened its very existence and a new lighthouse to be built on higher ground, was commissioned in 1847. However, its construction and inferior equipment necessitated a new one be built in 1857.
For more on the lighthouse go to:
http://capemay.com/magazine/2009/09/working-at-the-top-cape-mays-lighthouse-keepers/
