Lightship Overfalls Webcam – Delaware’s Floating Lighthouse

The Lightship Overfalls Webcam looks down from high on a 1938 lightship moored on the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal in Lewes, Delaware. The camera turns between views of the ship itself: the bow with its grey deck, red trim and a string of signal flags, the white rails along the side decks, the gangway down to the canal bank, and the brown water of the canal along the hull. The Overfalls Foundation, the group that looks after the ship, runs it next to a weather station on board and describes it as a view from above the Lewes waterfront. On a sunny afternoon the shadows of the mast and rigging stretch across the deck and onto the water.

About Lightship Overfalls

Lightship Overfalls is LV-118, built in 1938 by the Rice Brothers Corporation in East Boothbay, Maine, at a cost of $223,900. She is 34.98 meters (114 feet 9 inches) long and 7.9 meters (26 feet) across the beam, and she was the last riveted-hull lightship built for the U.S. Lighthouse Service. Lightships were floating lighthouses, anchored where no tower could stand, and this one worked three stations: Cornfield Point in Connecticut from 1938 to 1957, Cross Rip in Massachusetts from 1958 to 1962, and Boston from 1962 until she was decommissioned on November 7, 1972. She stayed on station through World War II.

The name came later. In 1973 the ship was donated to the Lewes Historical Society, which painted her for the Overfalls station, a lightship post off the mouth of Delaware Bay that marked the safe passage past the shoals and the junction of the shipping lanes running north and south from the bay entrance. That station was active from 1898 to 1960 and was served by four different lightships, none of them this one, before a channel marker buoy replaced the last. A failed attempt to sell the ship in 1999 led to the founding of the Overfalls Maritime Museum Foundation, which took over her maintenance and restoration.

She was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 16, 1989, and named a National Historic Landmark on June 14, 2011. Her berth is at the end of Shipcarpenter Street, at 219 Pilottown Road, beside Canalfront Park. Lewes was founded by Dutch settlers in 1631 as Zwaanendael and calls itself the First Town in the First State. It had 3,303 residents at the 2020 census and sits about 4 meters (13 feet) above sea level.

Weather and Climate in Lewes

Lewes sits near the mouth of Delaware Bay, and the camera shows the seasons mostly through light and water. NOAA normals for 1991 to 2020 put January highs around 8°C (46°F) and lows near -1°C (30°F), and the town averages about 27 centimeters (10.5 inches) of snow a year, so a white deck is possible in winter but never guaranteed. The low winter sun can throw long shadows across the ship even at midday. April afternoons reach about 19°C (66°F) with nights near 8°C (46°F).

July is the warmest month, with highs near 31°C (88°F) and nights around 21°C (71°F), and the high summer sun lights the deck and the canal from well overhead. October is still mild at about 21°C (69°F) by day and 11°C (52°F) at night, the last weeks of the ship’s tour season. Precipitation totals about 1,201 millimeters (47 inches) a year. Storms are part of the ship’s own record: a severe one in December 1970 damaged her while she was on the Boston station, two years before she was retired.

Things to Do Near Lightship Overfalls

Start with the ship. Tours run from 10 AM to 3:30 PM, Thursday to Sunday from Lewes Maritime Day through Labor Day weekend, then Friday to Sunday until the season closes in mid-October, with special openings on Veterans Day and the first Saturday in December. Admission is $5 for anyone 15 and over and free for children 14 and under. On shore, the Overfalls Lightship Museum opened in July 2026, with artifacts and exhibits on life aboard lightships and the history of American lightship service. The Foundation also restored the wheelhouse of the Stephanie Anne, which opened to the public as a small museum in 2014.

In town, the Zwaanendael Museum, modeled on a building in Hoorn in the Netherlands, covers Delaware history, and Fisherman’s Wharf lines the same canal as the lightship. Cape Henlopen State Park adjoins Lewes, and the cape is where the U.S. built Fort Miles in 1941. The Junction and Breakwater Trail, opened in 2003 on a former rail line, carries walkers, runners and cyclists through the park. For a day trip, the Cape May-Lewes Ferry crosses about 27 kilometers (17 miles) of Delaware Bay to North Cape May, New Jersey, in roughly 85 minutes.

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Συχνές ερωτήσεις

Where is Lightship Overfalls located?

The ship is moored on the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal in Lewes, Sussex County, Delaware, USA, beside Canalfront Park. Lewes lies near the mouth of Delaware Bay, a ferry ride of about 27 kilometers (17 miles) from North Cape May, New Jersey.

What can you see on the Lightship Overfalls Webcam?

The camera looks down on the lightship from above and moves between views: the bow and its signal flags, the side decks and white rails, the gangway to the canal bank, the timber bulkhead and grass along the shore, and the canal water beside the red hull. What is in frame depends on where the camera has turned.

What is the weather like in Lewes, Delaware?

Winters are cool, with January highs around 8°C (46°F) and lows near -1°C (30°F), and some snow most years. Summers are warm, with July highs near 31°C (88°F). April and October afternoons are mild, around 19°C to 21°C (66°F to 69°F).

Did Lightship Overfalls ever serve at the Overfalls station?

No. LV-118 served at Cornfield Point, Cross Rip and Boston. She was painted for the Overfalls station, which guarded the entrance to Delaware Bay from 1898 to 1960, after she was donated to the Lewes Historical Society in 1973.

Can you tour Lightship Overfalls?

Yes. The ship opens for tours from 10 AM to 3:30 PM on set days from Lewes Maritime Day until mid-October, plus Veterans Day and the first Saturday in December. Adults pay $5, and children 14 and under go free.

What was a lightship used for?

From 1820 to 1983, lightships guided mariners away from shoals and other hazards where a lighthouse could not be built. Most stations, the Overfalls among them, were eventually handed over to buoys, the usual fate of a lightship station in the United States.

Who runs the Lightship Overfalls Webcam?

The Overfalls Foundation, which looks after the ship, runs the camera together with a weather station on board, and shows both on its own website.

Source: The Overfalls Foundation