New Castle Range Rear Light

The New Castle Range Rear Light is a range lighthouse on the Delaware River in New Castle, Delaware, United States. It stands adjacent to 718 Grantham Lane, at coordinates 39°38′53.5″ N, 75°35′56.4″ W. The light forms the rear point of a range that guides vessels through the main channel past Pea Patch Island and Bulkhead Shoal.

The current aid is a steel skeletal tower erected in 1953. The tower rises 90 feet above the ground, giving the light a focal height of 110 feet above the river. Its characteristic is a continuous green light. The original structure was a wooden‑frame house with an integrated tower on its roof, but that building no longer stands.

The range was first constructed in 1876, when a two‑story frame house served as both dwelling and rear beacon. The original light was first lit that same year. In 1953 the wooden house was replaced by the steel skeleton tower, and the entire system was automated. The former house survived until it was deliberately burned in 1982 after a prior fire in 1975.

The skeletal tower remains an active, automated aid to navigation, continuing to display its continuous green light.

Light and tower

It was first lit in 1876. It was automated in 1953.