The United States of America is a federal union of 50 states and a capital district. The northeastern state of Pennsylvania has navigable water at two diagonally opposite corners. At the state's southeastern corner the Delaware River estuary brings ships to the historic port of Philadelphia. There are no longer any traditional lighthouses on Pennsylvania's portion of the Delaware River, but there is a former light station in Chester and an interesting example of a privately-built lighthouse on the Schuylkill River, a tributary of the Delaware. Diagonally across the state in the northwestern corner there are four lighthouses, three active, on the state's Lake Erie shoreline. These lighthouses are described on the Northwestern Pennsylvania page. Navigational aids in the United States are operated by the U.S. Coast Guard but ownership (and sometimes operation) of historic lighthouses has been transferred to local authorities and preservation organizations in many cases. Delaware River lights are the responsibility of the Coast Guard's Sector Delaware Bay with an Aids to Navigation Team at Philadelphia. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from Volume J of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. USCG numbers are from Vol. II of the U.S. Coast Guard Light List.
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![]() Eagle Point Range Rear Light, Philadelphia, March 2018 photo copyright Dan Berger; used by permission |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: East: New Jersey | South: Delaware
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Posted December 9, 2001. Checked and revised July 21, 2024. Lighthouses: 5. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.