Parking End of Lighthouse road (off Rt 9) near
gate 39 20.317 75 31.450
Access from November through January is on
Sundays only due to hunting. YOU MUST FOLLOW THIS RULE.
This will be a long walk along a raised dirt
road that goes through some unspoiled marsh and ends at a small
beach on the Delaware River. This area is part of the Woodlawn
Beach Wildlife Area. Along the way you will pass small “islands” of
higher ground with little forests and deer hunting stands. The
cache is located very close to the ruins of the Bombay Hook
lighthouse just off the beach—look for the red bricks. The oil
storage shed is still standing. Right now there are some wild
daffodils blooming by the old lighthouse. Please take you picture
with the cache and log on the beach in front of the lighthouse
runes.
A little further up the beach is a breakwater where the Smyrna
River empties into the Delaware River that has a range light. On
the way back, check out the old house ruins just off the road at 39
20.862 75 31.481.
This cache will require a four mile round trip hike over flat
dry land. If that is not enough for you, you can also get
“Delaware’s Longest Cache?” Your are 2/3 of the way there—its only
0.7 miles farther away. Also leaving from the same parking area are
four other caches, including one of my favorite cache, Pine Island
Fire
History Lesson
The cache is located at the ruins of the Bombay Hook Lighthouse.
The Bombay Hook Lighthouse was built in 1831, just south of the
Smyrna River near the banks of the Delaware River. The lighthouse
was a white brick, two-story dwelling with a short tower leading to
the lantern room atop the roof. When initially constructed, the
lighthouse was a one-story building. In 1841 the structure was
elevated to a two-story building with the light 47 feet above high
water and visible up to 12 miles.
Duncan Stewart served has the light's first keeper until his
death in 1854 at the age of 92. Keeper Stewart's oldest daughter,
Margaret Stewart, assumed her father's duties as principal keeper
in 1854. Margaret maintained her post as principal keeper of the
light until her resignation in 1862. On December 22, 1862, Captain
Joseph B. Benson, of Smyrna, Delaware, was appointed the new keeper
of Bombay Hook Lighthouse. Captain Benson and his wife, Mary
Elizabeth, raised 11 children in the lighthouse during his tenure
as keeper. Captain Benson served as keeper for Bombay Hook
Lighthouse until his death in 1908 at the age of 78.
In 1912 the Bombay Hook Lighthouse was deemed obsolete due to
the newly constructed Smyrna River range lights and was
discontinued after 81 years of service. The Bureau of Lighthouses
eventually sold the surplus property in 1929 to a private party who
owned adjacent land. Eventually, the land would come back under the
jurisdiction of the government and was given to the Woodland Beach
Wildlife Area (operated by the Delaware State Division of Fish
& Wildlife). Around 1974, the Delaware State Division of Fish
& Wildlife decided to demolish the former lighthouse due to the
hazard it evolved into over the years from vandalism and a series
of fires.
There were a series of lighthouse along the Delaware River to
aid in navigation. Many are still standing: Delaware
Lights
Special thanks to MonkeySea who set me straight on the correct
history of the lighthouse.