MT:"The Henlopen Lighthouse"
ANA
Transcript No. 684
May 18, 1995
THE HENLOPEN LIGHTHOUSE
by Bill Jones
Today state and local governments raise money for major public
projects by selling bonds. But before the ratification of the U.S.
Constitution, state governments sometimes paid for large projects by issuing
their own paper money.
During colonial times, each state had the power to issue its own
money. In most cases this money was in the form of paper notes.
Most currency was issued for general use, but some was issued to
pay for specific projects that were described on the notes. The Pennsylvania
colonial government made its own paper money to finance the construction of
piers and buoys for the Cape Henlopen Lighthouse, in southern Delaware. The
back of the notes featured a drawing of the lighthouse, and a chilling message
that counterfeiting those notes was punishable by death.
The Henlopen Lighthouse was built around 1765 on a sandy cape
where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. The lighthouse, was 69 feet
high, the tallest structure in Delaware; and its whale oil powered light could
be seen for more than three miles.
During the Revolutionary War, the lighthouse keeper was
sympathetic to the American cause. On one occasion, a British warship
anchored off the coast of Delaware, and asked the lighthouse keeper to supply
the ship with cattle. The lighthouse keeper refused, and offered them some
bullets if they didn't leave.
By the 1920s, due to shifting sands, the lighthouse fell into
the sea during a storm, destroying one of Delaware's most famous landmarks.
Today, the Henlopen Lighthouse is remembered by two replicas that have been
constructed in the area, by numerous paintings and photographs, and by a small
number of 200 year old notes that paid for its construction.
This has been "Money Talks." Today's program was written by
Bill Jones and underwritten by NUMISMATIC NEWS, each week providing its
readers with the latest news first on the U.S. coin market. "Money Talks" is a
copyrighted program of the American Numismatic Association, 818 N. Cascade
Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80903, (719)-632-2646, a...@csdco.com.