From WGMD News: 

“The Army Corps of Engineers will conduct a study of the Lighthouse and breakwater along the Lewes Harbor due to all the erosion that has taken place over the years. Over 340-thousand dollars was allocated just to do the study, and the actual project to restructure the breakwater could cost as low as one and a half million dollars and as high as 10-million dollars— making some wonder if it’s even necessary to go forward with the project and spend that kind of money…”

Judith Roales, who is the president of the Delaware River & Bay Lighthouse Foundation came in the WGMD studios this week and talked about what could eventually happen if this is not taken care of. She says if the breakwater collapses, this could cause severe damage to the shoreline, and put the whole beach area as well as the Cape May-Lewes Ferry Terminal in danger. Fishermen would be in danger as well if there is a storm and no harbor of refuge. Roales told WGMD:

“If that breakwater were to collapse in parts and be breached, think of what is behind it. The Lewes Ferry terminal is there. There is a lot of very expensive property along that shoreline, and Cape Henlopen is there. And there would be severe damage to that shoreline, as well as to the other breakwater and the other lighthouse, to Cape Henlopen State Park, and who knows what else.”

Once you put a structure like that out there, you have to maintain it, but another question was brought up on WGMD’s Bill Colley show: Is there too much of a focus on historical preservation? Should there be more of a focus on addressing other needs of the community instead? Roales stated that historical preservation is also important—adding that our future and culture is dependant upon maintaining our past. However once again, this is more than a preservation of history and a nice element to the community. It is to protect the beach areas, as well as the ships and the fishermen that may need that Harbor of Refuge. What do you think?

This entry was posted on Friday, January 11th, 2008 at 4:54 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.