SC-252: originally installed on 11/18/2015.

In 1769, an international scientific effort was organized the observe a transit of Venus in order to determine the size of the solar system. This rare event, when Venus passes in the front of the Sun’s disk, makes such calculations possible when measured from widely separated sites. The American Philosophical Society sent Owen Biddle and Joel Bailey to Lewes from Philadelphia to establish a temporary astronomical observatory to record the transit on June 3, 1769. Their observations, combined with measurements from other astronomers, placed Lewes in the forefront of the 18th-century astronomy. The observatory was located near this site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Location: Bethel Cemetery, Savannah Road Lewes, DE 19958