Breakwaters

Two massive breakwaters shield Lewes Harbor from the punishing seas where Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean meet, creating an 800-acre anchorage that is nearly empty now but in the early 1900s was capable of sheltering 1,000 vessels from violent storms and hull-crushing ice. Master Architect William F. Strickland designed the inner breakwater and served as its chief engineer. Construction began in 1823, and laborers worked on the project, mostly by hand, for nearly 70 years. Measuring one mile long, it was the first public works project of the new U.S. government and the second-largest breakwater in the world. Even before it was completed, however, it was too small and its harbor too shallow for newer ships. Between 1897 and 1901, a new mile-and-a-half-long breakwater was built farther out. Both breakwaters are piles of rubble and huge stone blocks weighing up to 13 tons each. Together, the breakwaters, lighthouses, harbor waters, and the old Coast Guard Station west of the ferry terminal constitute a National Historic District.

Lewes, Delaware · United States