<Note - This text from the Cape Gazette article, September 29, 2011>
It’s official. The Lightship Overfalls is a National Historic Landmark, the first in Sussex County. It’s also the first maritime landmark of 13 national landmarks in Delaware.
The Overfalls Foundation hosted a ceremony Sept. 28 on the ship and in Canalfront Park to unveil a plaque designating the lightship as a national landmark. U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, who played a key role in obtaining the designation, was called on for the honor of showing the plaque for the first time to the public.
As the plaque was unveiled, the ship’s bells and horn were sounded in celebration.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Tracy Mulveny, foundation president. “It’s a testament to the vision of hundreds of volunteers over the past 12 years.”
Lewes Mayor Jim Ford said it was only fitting that the first national landmark in the county and the first maritime landmark in the state should be in the first town in Delaware. He thanked the volunteers who worked to restore the lightship over the past 12 years.
Past President and landmark committee Chairman Dave Bernheisel said the process to get landmark designation from the National Park Service’s National Historic Landmarks Program started in 2005, and there were times when it looked like it wasn’t going to happen.
“It was not going good at first, and we were getting a negative response,” Bernheisel said.
That’s when Delaware’s Congressional delegation stepped in.
“When they say no, I say we just have to find another way,” Carper said.
That way was a better explanation of the significant role the Lightship Overfalls played in maritime history. In addition, the lightship is of national significance as the last lightship built in 1938 and one of a handful of restored lightships in the country.
Tim Slavin, director of the state’s Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, said the event was a rare occasion with only 13 national landmarks in Delaware. There are fewer than 2,500 landmarks in the nation since the program began in 1935, said Paul Loether, a chief with the National Park Service.
“We’ve come from a rust bucket and muddy hole to this,” Bernheisel said.
Although a lightship was in service at the mouth of the Delaware Bay near Lewes from 1898 to 1960, it wasn’t the current Overfalls. During its history, the lightship now in Lewes harbor was known as the Cornfield, Cross Rip and lastly the Boston, from 1962 to 1972. It was dedicated to the Lewes Historical Society in 1973 and the name was changed to Overfalls, the name of the lightship originally closest to Lewes.
Little or no work was done to the ship for more than three decades until the Dirty Hands Gang took over restoration nearly 12 years ago.