MT: The Henlopen Lighthouse
ANA
May 25, 2000
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.
Today's program was written by Bill Jones. "Money Talks" is a
copyrighted production of the American Numismatic Association, 818 N.
Cascade Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80903, 719/632-2646, a...@money.org,
http://www.money.org.