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The
Channel Marker
Winter, 1999 Issue 5 |
You can see the complete version of the Channel Marker with additional
articles in the Chapter's Printed Version. For more infomation...
CLICK HERE
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| LIGHTSHIP
OVERFALLS LV-118, WAL 539
By: Don Bruening  This
beautiful lightship continues to reside in Lewes, DE, on the canal, and
can be accessed via Pilottown Road - for a while. Accepted by the
Lewes Historical Society in 1973 from the US Coast Guard she stood for
years off Boston and upon being brought to Lewes was re-christened the
OVERFALLS for the lightship which from 1892 to 1961 patrolled the entrance
to the Delaware Bay. In 1975 the Overalls Lighthouse Association in a major
undertaking moved the ship to Lewes, prepared it for a museum role, and
created a permanent birth for it on the canal. Tours of the OVERFALLS
were conducted upon request to the Lewes Historical Society from April
to Labor Day. Last year the OVERFALLS was given, gratis, to the River School
in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. The Lewes group wanted to keep her but they
had been unable to find enough money to keep up her maintenance.
Plans for the OVERFALLS, which include being renamed the CORNFIELD, are
for her to be either towed or sailed under her own power through the New
York shipping lane to New London, CT. There she will lie in dry-dock
until she is completely refurbished. Once the repairs have been completed
she will reside permanently at a pier being built her in Old Saybrook.
The tie in with Old Saybrook and the OVERFALLS (CORNFIELD) is that the
lightship stood off Old Saybrook for many years before her other assignments
in Boston Harbor and Delaware Bay. In essence she will be returning home
bringing with her many fond memories and stories of years gone by. Chesapeake
Chapter members wanting or needing the OVERFALLS as one of the 40
+3 will have to visit her soon. She is scheduled for redeployment
in the spring this year.
More Channel Marker information can be seen in the printed version of our newsletter. To get the full version, become a member today... it's easy ! 
A channel marker is a device showing a navigable passage. That is what this publication endeavors to be - a device that provides one passageway for chapter members to gain information that enhances their knowledge about and enjoyment of lighthouses and all lighthouse experiences. The CHESAPEAKE CHANNEL MARKER is published periodically as material is available. If you would like to contribute to this publication, call Dwight McMakin at 703.760.9389 or e-mail him at dmcmakin@hotmail.com Layout and design by Jerry Waters. Concept origination and editing by Dwight McMakin. |
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2001(c)
Chesapeake Chapter, USLHS. All rights reserved.
