The Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware — A special publication of the Coastal Point by CoastalPointNewspaper

e story of

Bethany Beach

Delaware

113 years of ‘Wish You Were Heres’

A S P E C I A L P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E C O A S TA L P O I N T N E W S PA P E R • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 4

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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We present to you ... Bethany Beach B

ethany Beach will forever hold a special place in my heart.Like the majority of people who interact with the town,my first memories of Bethany were family vacations every summer as a youth.My grandmother had access to a timeshare in town through her job for one week a summer, and we all would flock to the beach to play in the ocean,make our own sundaes and just simply enjoy the company of one another without any outside distractions. e place was pure magic to us kids,and judging by the constant smile on my parents’faces throughout the week,the magic was not exclusive to children.e town had a slower Darin J. McCann pace than neighbors like Ocean City or Rehoboth Beach,and it was conducive to families spending quality time with one another without the headaches that often accompany vacations. Of course,that was many years ago. What you have today is...well,in many ways,the same place.Bethany Beach has maintained the quaint,small-town feel it had back when my family first started coming here in the early 1970s.e beaches are clean.e shops and restaurants have unique flairs to them.And people typically greet you with a smile as you pass them walking down Garfield Parkway. Oh,some of those old,cool cottages are long gone now, and there have been modernization eﬀorts on both the residential and business sides of the town,but much remains the same.

Point of No Return

And that is a comfort. As we put together research for this book — as well as the work we did a few years ago on our comprehensive look back at the Storm of’62 — it became clearly evident to us that the seismic shift in the town of Bethany Beach’s face indeed took place in the aftermath of that storm. e storm leveled the town.e people of the community rebuilt it better than it was before.And life has marched on from that point. We’ve seen beach replenishment eﬀorts,a ban on public smoking,a controversial new hotel project,headaches over a downtown roads eﬀort and public infighting between townspeople and those who operate the town’s government — and that’s just in the 10-plus years we’ve been in business at the Coastal Point. Yet Bethany Beach continues on,both as a haven for those who wish to collect memories through their beach vacations, and those who have decided to make this place their homes. With the vast majority of the town built up,and not much more room to grow barring incorporation of neighboring areas, the future of Bethany Beach looks to stay similar to what we see today. And that’s a good thing. 

e story of

 Delaware 

is published by the same folks who bring you the Coastal Point every Friday. Visit us at coastalpoint.com

The story of

Bethany Beach

Jane Johnson, Advertising Sales

Delaware

Maria Counts, Reporter Laura Walter, Reporter

Susan Lyons, Publisher

Tripp Colonell, Reporter

Darin J. McCann, Editor darin.mccann@coastalpoint.com

Tom Maglio, Designer

M. Patricia Titus, News Editor

R. Chris Clark, Photographer

113 years of ‘Wish You Were Heres’

David Elliott, Designer

Shaun Lambert, Technical Director Bob Bertram, Production Manager Susan Mutz, Advertising Sales Jane Meleady, Advertising Sales Kathy Jo Robbins, Advertising Sales

e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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COVER: People have been collecting and sharing memories of Bethany Beach for more than a century.

Over the centuries

Bethany Beach ‘Quiet Resort’ has always been a

any think of Bethany Beach’s beginnings as stemming from the establishment of a summer camp for what is now known as the National City Christian Church by F.D. Powers in 1901. “Bethany Beach didn’t start when the folks came from Pittsburgh and elsewhere,” said Gordon Wood, whose family has lived in the area for centuries.“People lived here, people had prospered. People had lived here for well over a hundred years.”

Bethany Beach boardwalk and house of Capt. Ebe T. Chandler, Aug. 1925. Delaware Public Archives, Board of Agriculture Glass Negative Collection

Wood said that on May 3, 1687, Matthew Scarborough, a member of the lower house of the Maryland Assembly, was essentially the first land speculator, as he patented 500 acres of North Petherton, which is today the eastern half of Bethany Beach. It was sold to Roger omas, who would later will the land to John Shockley and William Hall.

e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

Wood’s seventh great-grandfather William Evans for 5,000 pounds of tobacco. Hall and his family lived on their land from 1708, if not before. “Tobacco was the general currency at that time,” said Wood. e families who lived on the land now known as Bethany were subsistence farmers, said Wood. “ey didn’t do anything other than exist. What was Bethany Beach like when they bought it? It was like on the road to the Indian River Inlet.You can imagine — there was nothing there. Just nothing. e land was not useful for much other than grazing cattle, sheep, whatever they grazed. e green grass on the marsh, they would cut that to feed their livestock.” Wood said July 4 is an important date in Bethany Beach history, due to a boarder dispute between William Penn and George Calvert. “Why should we celebrate July 4? ere was a decision made on July 4 of a diﬀerent year (1760) to establish a boundary line. If that boundary line had not been established, Bethany Beach would be part of Ocean City, [Md.],” he said. Francis Asbury, the traveling Methodist preacher, visited Bethany Beach twice, in 1779 and 1796. “He was here because of Sound Church in Williamsville,” said Wood.“He visited Solomon Evans… Religion was an important part of their life,” he said. Wood said his family came to America from Wales for opportunity, as did many. “ey may have come here to work as indentured servant, in which case they worked for 4, 5, 6 years, whatever it was. When someone came to this part of the country, they got a piece of land, could be as much as 500 acres, which as long as they lived on it and farmed it they got to keep it.” John Evans Sr., the son of William Evans, had nine slaves, according to an inventory of his will in 1795. “ere were slaves here. My family had slaves — the Halls had slaves, the Evanses had slaves. William’s son, A map of Maryland Patents John, lived in Cedar Neck and he had slaves as well.” Wood said the town had a couple of one-room in Baltimore Hundred continued from page 4 before 1700 by Phillip schoolhouses over the years. One was built in the 1700s Before his family and others in the area settled the Short, Jr, as redrawn by and later on another school was located on Kent Avenue. Dick Carter. land,Wood said there were Indians who lived in what is “ere’s a picture in town hall that shows what once Courtesy Gordon Wood now considered Bethany Beach. was the town’s school. Standing in front of the school in“When I was a boy I was out in a cousin’s field, clude people like my mother, my aunt [and] Milton George Knox,” he recalled.“He reached into his pocket and Cooper.” said,‘Here son, have this.’ It was a red flint arrowhead that In the early 20th century, Captain John Hall sold the he had just found.What does a 6-year-old kid do with an land for the Bethany Beach Tabernacle. In 1904, the town’s arrowhead? He eventually loses it.” first boardwalk was constructed, paving the way for what According to Wood, Shockley gave his 250 acres to would later become a booming tourist industry, drawing Robert Johnson, and on Feb. 6, 1718, Johnson sold it to

Past

See Past page 8

e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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I am proud to call Coastal Delaware my home and I routinely publish market updates about home sales in the Bethany Beach area. For a copy of the latest report, email me at allison@allisonstine.com

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visitors from all over the world. Wood recalled his mother, Hilda, who was born in 1914, telling stories of visiting the beach when she was a girl in the mid-20s. “She would go to Bethany Beach to spend the day on the beach. ere would be a dozen and a half people on the beach and almost all of them would be relatives,” he said.“at’s why it’s so special to me. It really was a family place.” In 1873, because of the numerous shipwrecks along the Delmarva Coast, the U.S. Government formed the U.S. Lifesaving Service, which was later merged with the Coast Guard. According to the Lifesaving Station’s website,“e station was built in 1876 for use by the United States Lifesaving Service, a government organization created to respond to the alarming number of shipwrecks along the coastlines of the United States.” e station itself was built in 1876, and was staﬀed the first week in January of 1877. “It was built by the United States Life-Saving Service, which was a precursor to the U.S. Coast Guard. It started

Captain John C. Hall of Bethany Beach, 1917. Courtesy Gordon Wood

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oﬀ as part of the United States Revenue Cutter Service,” site manager Jim Hall told the Coastal Point in 2010. “Most commerce going on at that time was going on on the water. Quite a bit of lives lost because of shipwrecks. e federal government said we really have to address this to keep peoples confidence in the economy as a worldplayer after the civil war,” he noted. e station was staﬀed during the stormy months from September through April. e men would be paid $1 a day for their exceptional work. “Two people would leave the station at sundown — one heading north, one heading south — to patrol the shorelines for ships in distress, or ships in too close to the coast,” said Hall. In 1915, the Organic Act was passed in Congress, which combined the Revenue Cutter Service with the LifeSaving Service to become the U.S. Coast Guard. From 1876 on, the station was active as a life-saving station. “Our station stayed an active duty life-saving station until the big Ash Wednesday storm in 1962. When that storm occurred, the station was over-washed by the ocean. e bottom floor filled up with sand and water,” said Hall. “e Coast Guard crew that was there was evacuated, and the following day it was decommissioned.” Wood said those who lived in the area were hardw-

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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orking folks, who did farming, such as harvesting pumpkins and shucking corn, without the help of industrial machinery. “Everyone was either a farmer or a waterman. On the water, there were a lot of clams, fish, turtles, which they would catch and ship. ey would catch eels and ship them to Holland,” said Wood.“We didn’t know what we had.We had people that cared, a beautiful place to live and an ocean. Didn’t everybody have an ocean? Didn’t everybody have places to hunt, places to fish, wide open spaces?” Wood said a pastime for many locals was playing on their town’s softball team. “ere was a team called the Bethany Beach Beachcombers. My dad was the first baseman in 1948. It was part of a league with teams from all the other towns. at was a special part of the town growing up.” Farming was a big part of the area’s economy. Roger Knox, a fourth generation Bethany Beach resident grew up on a chick farm near today’s Sea Colony. “My father owned 6 acres on Pennsylvania Avenue, where the Holiday Inn Express is. at’s where I grew up. It was a chicken farm back in the’40s and’50s. My dad was a poultry farmer and poultry broker.We had 17,000 [chickens]. at’s small compared to today’s standards but it was large back then,” he recalled.“e tourists didn’t care

for the smell when the wind was right sometimes... ey were smelling money.” Bethany was so small in the early days that the homes in town didn’t have numbers, they just had names. “Krawen” (“Newark” spelled backward) was the name of the cottage with the garage where Bob Parsons, a former mayor of Bethany Beach, spent his first few summers.

e Bethany Beach Tabernacle, early 1900s. Courtesy Town of Bethany Beach

ere was the Gray Goose, Sea Shell-ter, Journey’s End, Drexler Cottage and more. When my parents built on their lot they put up two homes,” recalled Parsons.“ey named the front house‘the See Past page 10

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

Past

the pipes freeze and break. So, if you don’t have any heat you can’t come in the winter continued from page 9 because you don’t have any water.” e Seaside Inn, originally built in T-Bob’ for Ted and Bob,” he said. Noting that 1901, serving as one of the town’s early hodown the street the cottage“Seven C” was tels. On Second Street, there was also the owned by Mr. and Mrs. Carmindy and their Addy Cottage, built in 1901 by John five children. Addy, and later turned into the Williams Former town councilwoman Margaret Inn, which rented rooms to visitors from Young grew up in Philadelphia, Penn., and has the 1930s to 1975. en the inn been vacationing in the town her whole life. changed hands and became the Addy “My parents bought a cottage in 1949 and Sea, a bed and breakfast inn. we spent all summer here,” she recalled, noting “At 12 o’clock or quarter to twelve, their first residence was 111 Second Street. someone would ring a handheld bell “Going to the beach was on the front porch that would signal a really big treat. It was that lunch was about to be served.To something.When we go in you’d wash oﬀ the sand and put outgrew the cottage, we on clothes. None of this eating in got a house in Bethany your bathing suit because the dining West in 1983. Once room will have none of that, I can my husband retired, tell you. ey would do the same for dinner,” said Parsons, we moved there perwho has spent time in Bethany Beach during every summanently in 1997. mer of his life. “When we first “If I was good in church, I would be allowed to ride in came, there were a grandfather’s pick-up truck when he would deliver a tub of few big houses like ice cream to the Addy Sea. ey would buy it from my the Addy Sea. en grandfather’s store. He would keep it in our freezer and there was the big then take it down to them. It was a big deal.” hotel, the Seaside To go along with the cottages’ unique identifying Inn at the north end of the boardnames, were three-digit telephone numbers. walk on Second Street, which went out in the Storm of Top: Wes, Norma Lee, Mom “People marvel at our telephone numbers. e phone ‘62,” said Young. Carey and Dorothy Brown number at the store, when it was a payphone was Dickene small cottages, said Young, had no heat or air, on Parkwood St. in the 1940s, with the Steele son 910,” he said.“en when we got our own house phone which made most families only reside in the town during Cottage in the background. our number was 216. My aunt’s number was 317. A couthe summer months. Left: Edith Evans Carey ple of my buddies from school, one was 555, 689.You “Right in Bethany, there were very few fulltime resirolling a barrel of beer in could tell I was a new kid because down at the beach at my dents. Back then all the houses were all summer houses. the early 1930s. father’s house the number was 7480 — four digits.You Courtesy Robert Brines at means they didn’t have any heat. If you don’t have any heat, you have to turn oﬀ the water in the winter otherwise See Past page 12

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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could tell I was a newcomer right there.” In 1927, acreage on the west side of Bethany Beach was purchased by the Delaware National Guard to be used as a summer training site. According to the Bethany Beach Landowners Association’s book, “Bethany Beach, Delaware: A Walk rough History,”“e camp at that time included barracks, tent sites, hangers, flying field, and a parade ground. Delaware had swapped a lovely stretch of beach, later to become Sussex Shores, for the low and somewhat marshy camp site, and made use of the deserted beach across the road for training of its ar-

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tillery and associated anti-aircraft units.Training by day and night attracted hundreds of onlookers, when giant searchlights sought out enemy aircraft targets towed by National Guard planes.” During a history lecture in 2013, Jane McCabe, whose family owned the town’s bowling alley, recalled living in the town during World War II. “Living on the boardwalk, we had to black everything out during the war,” remembered McCabe.“My father found a red parachute on the beach, and mother made my twin sister and I dresses out of it, and they never wore out.” Carol Psaros, who grew up in Seaford, would spend the summer in north Bethany, close to National Guard camp in the 50’s. “e National Guard played a big part here definitely in the‘40s because of WWII and the coastal defenses. I remember every summer on Sunday we would jump out of bed for cannon and‘Reveille,’ then try to fall asleep again and they immediately played‘Star Spangled Banner’,”she recalled, which would be followed by calisthenics and marching around the camp.“at ceremony went on every morning… So that was how we woke up every morning. And truly the western wind you felt like you could hear every word they were saying. “e National Guard during the day, particularly north and south

e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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of town, they would fire at drones [as target practice]. It wasn’t uncommon to find casings from the guns … exploded ordinances on the beach.” Psaros said the soldiers mostly stayed on the training site but would occasionally leave to swim. “ey were very respectful to townspeople,” she said. If Psaros and her sister weren’t awakened at 5:30 a.m. courtesy of the Guard, she said they would be roused by a mosquito plane. “e DDT, the mosquito spray would come right in the window,” she said.“Mosquito control began in the early’30s.Volunteers drained the marshes and ditches.”

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Family-fun a big focus In 1931, the Wilgus Bowling Alley was built between First and Second Streets, right on the boardwalk. “at was really the social center for the kids. at’s where everybody met in the evening and hung out.All the guys would check out the girls that would come for the weekend. at’s where you would go in the evenings to meet all your friends,” said Young. “I think it only had six lanes. Oﬀ to the side there was a soda fountain, where they sold ice cream, soda, hot dogs, and some little snacks. ey had some benches where you could sit in the bowling alley. Most of us kids didn’t really go there to bowl.We went there to see all of our friends and hang out. e bowling alley was set back from the boardwalk a bit. ere was this area in front of it before you got to the boardwalk. ere was plenty of room to sit around outside.” As a parent,Young said she would take her children to a book mobile to check out books, as the South Coastal Library wasn’t constructed until 1994. “We had a book mobile that came every week or every other week and it would park on Garfield Parkway. Usually it was only there for a couple hours but you knew what day and what hours so you could go down. ey didn’t have an awful lot of books but we’d go down and get some storybooks.” For the most part,Young said families frequented the beach, the boardwalk, and spent time at home playing games like cards or Monop-

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Bethany Lawson of Crisfield, Md., decided to open a second groBeach cery store location, and settled on Bethany Beach. Timeline

“A produce salesman told him about a small grocery store for sale here in Bethany. He came down and looked at oly. 1901 it and purchased it,” said Dryden of Lawson’s Sav-A-Stop, “Maybe once in a great while everyone would get toe Town of Bethany Beach was founded which occupied the storefront that is now operating as gether and go to the movies in Rehoboth. at was a big Baja Beach Grill. e family’s grocery store is now known deal. It was really a lot of fun,” she said.“Most of the cot1903 as Shore Foods.“We moved down here every summer and tages had big backyards because the cottages weren’t big. First boardwalk was constructed worked down here all summer. My mom stayed in CrKids played in the backyard.When my kids were little we isfield and ran that store, and dad ran this one. We lived had a badminton net set up in the backyard and stayed up 1904 overtop the store.” all summer. People down the street had a baseball diaPost Oﬃce was established On Friday nights, many teens would gather at the mond. at’s when kids played outside instead of doing all Bethany Beach fire hall for a weekly dance. their electronic stuﬀ.” 1907 “We didn’t have a deejay as we have today; we had Young said that area merchants would drive into Life Saving Station was built recorded music on 45 rpm records, with the latest and town to sell their goods, rather than open up a shop. greatest hits. at was a good time,” said Parsons, adding it “e local farmers would come around on their 1909 was perfectly acceptable to show up stag.“You would show pickup trucks selling fruit and whatnot. One guy came Bethany becomes an incorporated town; the up and ask somebody to dance, ask the next one to dance, around selling seafood, another sold vegetables and fruit federal Life Saving Station, and maybe come back to the first one to dance. If the dancand also beautiful flowers. ey would come, each of them, constructed two years ing went well, in those days, the music was played soft earlier, becomes a U.S. maybe two times a week.” Coast Guard Station enough you could actually have a conversation while the “I remember the iceman coming, because we had an music was playing. If the chitchat went well, that might be ice box for refrigeration,” said Parsons.“I remember the mo1910 your special person for the next two or three weeks. Somee Loop Canal bile farmers market. Most of them came in a pick up truck. is operational time even four weeks.” ere was a guy that came in a horse-drawn wagon.” continued on page 17 In 1955, Kathy Dryden’s father Alfred James“Tut” See Past page 16

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“My wife [Tempe] was a beach romance. Her sister came up to me one day,” said Ron Steen, of an encounter with his future sister-in-law on the beach in 1966…Two weeks later we went out. One year later we were married.” e beach was the ultimate attraction for locals and visitors, who spent as much time in or around the water as they could. “I just remember playing in the ocean — playing, playing, and playing in the water. at’s where I wanted to be,” said Parsons.“In those days I don’t know what happened to children, but they must’ve gotten a lot more hardy since I was a kid because my mother said we would not swim for a whole hour after eating lunch. at drove every kid on the block crazy.” A favorite water activity was rafting, which Parsons said he enjoyed beginning in sixth grade. “ey didn’t have boogie boards. ey had rubber rafts that had a canvas covering and filled with air.We

Flooding at the home of Rupert Smith, 4th St., following the March storm of 1962. Courtesy Rupert Smith

would ride the waves on those. at was just a big deal. If you could ride a wave in on your knees on one of those rafts you were pretty confident,” he said.“at’s how we spent our time all afternoon. When I was a kid I played in the water all afternoon. Sometimes even after my father got home from work, which was a no-no.” Young said that the draw to the ocean didn’t change as she grew up, and eventually married and had children. ere were few other activities people wanted to do while in town. “Basically it was the beach — you went to the beach.You hung out on the boardwalk, you walked on the boardwalk. Not many people had TV because reception was terrible until cable came,” she said. We had a TV. Most of the houses that were rental houses did not have a TV — It’s not like today where no one would rent a house without one.” In 1974, after President Richard Nixon was caught in the infamous Watergate scandal,Young recalls sharing a moment in history with many summertime neighbors. “e night that Nixon resigned it was on TV. We had

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continued from page 14

all kinds of people on the street asking if they could come in and watch it on our television. It was like wall-to-wall people in our living room. I met people I never saw before.”

e Storm of ‘62 On March 5, 1962, a low–pressure system developed oﬀ the Atlantic coast and moved north. e Town of Bethany Beach was hit hard with five tidal cycles over the course of three-days. “We had three high tides. Massive waves… Biggest waves I can remember. “We didn’t know it was coming.We didn’t have the technology we have today.We knew it was a nor’easter, but it was a three-day job with a full moon and high winds,” said Knox. Knox said he stayed on the family farm with his father to weather the storm, while his mother and three sisters evacuated their home and went inland. “We moved some of the chickens out from the lower house up to the upper house to try to save them.” “We as children and my parents, in the little grocery store, we went in and put all of our equipment up on milk crates and pallets,” said Dryden, of her family preparing their store for the storm.

We e

1923

Dryden’s family grocery was not damaged in the storm — save for a little water and sand. However, Knox said all 17,000 of his family’s chickens drowned in the storm. 1924 First electrical plant was “We had an old WWII watch tower just south of built to illuminate Town Sea Colony. I climbed that with a pair of binoculars and all Hall and two street lights you could see on the beach was wood, refrigerators, dish1925 washers, bathtubs right on the beach. Just massive piles of Women's Civic Club wood,” recalled Knox who was 15-years-old at the time. was chartered Psaros returned to her family’s beach home days after 1928 the storm passed. Electric power brought by “Our house was still there, but we were oceanfront. Salisbury Utility, replaced local generation Everything in front of us was either smashed in or gone. We had a piece of house in our backyard and front yard. 1931 We were up on cinderblocks,” she said. Wilgus Bowling Alley was built on the boardwalk Young and her husband were not in town for the storm, and their eldest daughter was born right around 1934 e first paved road from that time. Bethany Beach to “We lived outside of Philadelphia but my parents who Rehoboth Beach lived in Wilmington came down after the storm,” she said. completed “We had 6 feet of water in our house. e National Guard 1942 was here to prevent looting.You could only get into town if Bethany darkens as you had your deed. ere was 3 feet of water in the house Atlantic coast blackout but believe it or not, nothing was damaged. e only is imposed Boardwalk is rebuilt for the second time, after a storm in 1922

continued on page 18

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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1945

Past

some of these houses.” Following the storm, residents and cottage owners began to rebuild the town. “ere was sand all over the place. A lot of Amish 1946 came down and helped clean up. It was a mess,” said Young. Water service extended to Bethany Beach residents “Some of the houses were rebuilt. Rebuilt the boardwalk. By that summer everything was basically back to normal 1948 except for the beachfront.” Volunteer Fire Co. was McCabe recalled that the new post oﬃce and boardorganized and purchased an engine for $350 walk were built in 1963, following the destructive Storm of 1962, and the first bank was also opened in Bethany at 1951 that time. Water system enlarged “You could almost borrow money with a handshake,” 1952 she said.“In 1980, we had the real estate boom — the rest e Chesapeake of the world was finally discovering our town. Sea Colony Bay Bridge was opened had come… Along with the tourists, came many changes.” and dedicated Boardwalk and pavilion, which were destroyed in a September 1944 hurricane, are rebuilt.

continued from page 17

things that were damaged was the living room furniture, like the sofa and a couple chairs. “Anything that was basic wood, they just washed oﬀ. ey were fine.We were very lucky. at was a good place to be… at block was a good block to be in. e only other thing, we did lose one of the posts on the front porch because a lot of the debris washed down from the beachfront. Some kind of appliance hit one of the posts.” Not everyone was so lucky. Many homes were destroyed or moved from their original location.Appliances were washed out of businesses and store merchandise was washed with salt water. Landmarks such as the Seaside Inn and the Wilgus Bowling Alley were destroyed in the storm and never rebuilt. “Lewes Dairy lost all of their equipment. So they went to dad and said,‘you want to buy? We’re out of here.’ at’s when dad purchased that,” said Dryden of the store’s current location.“He took a leap of faith after the storm. He’d be amazed now.” e storm also changed the landscape of the beach — from how people built to how the ocean hit the sand. “Just north of town, there was a very tall dune. Before the storm of ’62 we had to take 10 steps straight down to the beach and people said,‘Oh the ocean will never cross that dune,’” recalled Psaros. en the Storm happened. “e March storm of ’62 took our beach away. Our waves broke out much farther. Now we just have shore break where they pumped in all the sand,” said Knox.“Back when we were lifeguarding you had to break through the surf then swim to get someone. Now when you jump in you’re practically over your head. e shore break is pretty bad… “at [storm] cleared out the beach and then people started building on the beach. Before, most houses were on the west side of the dunes. Now they built over the dunes,

1956

A town made of workers

Fire House built on Hollywood Street

Kids were industrious in the town of Bethany, with many having jobs or starting their own businesses. March 1962 Nor’easter knocks out “In third grade I had a business where I sold conch boardwalk, pavilion, Seaside Inn, bowling alley, shells. ere was a big storm and I don’t know why but we along with many homes just got gobs and gobs, maybe 4- or 500 of conch shells. and other structures My father and I collected them, put them in the back of my grandfather’s pick up and took them home,” said Par1963-64 Boardwalk rebuilt and the sons.“My job was to clean them up so they would be ready New Christian Church for sale. I put them in an express wagon and go up and chapel dedicated down the street. I’d go on the boardwalk and sell them.Ten 1965 cents a piece and 3 for a quarter. If you wanted a prickly New Bethany Beach pear cactus plant in one, that was a $1, thank you.” Post Oﬃce dedicated Parsons also owned a pony, so he would sell pony 1966 rides to visitors during the summer months. Baltimore Trust became “e pony rides were more expensive because I had to Bethany Beach's first bank buy horse feed. My grandfather had a barn on a piece of 1970 property he owned across the street from Church of New Town Hall Christ. I would get a ride with my dad or if my grandfather happened to be delivering groceries down at the beach that continued on page 21

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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day, he’d bring me up,” he said.“Everyday was a new arrangement. Somehow I would get from Bethany Beach up to Ocean View and get the horse. I did most of my business on Ocean View Parkway and ird Street.” Parsons said he would also fill in as a worker at the Wilgus family’s bowling alley, but not regularly. “I worked there but mostly in the winter setting pins, and not often. I wasn’t fast like some of the other boys. ey made very good tips; I didn’t make very good tips.” In the summers of 1956 and 1957 Parsons worked at Robert’s Repair, on the northeast corner of Pennsylvania and Garfield. In 1958 it turned into a Texaco station, and he worked there for one last summer before joining the Bethany Beach Beach Patrol in 1959 as one of a handful of lifeguards. “ere were days when you would sit on the stand and would almost fall asleep out of boredom. e water was lake-calm. en you would get water like we’ve had over the last couple of weeks, where the water was rough, riptide, high surf. en you earned your money,” he said.“ere was one day where I came home and reported that I had 12 people I had rescued that day. I was worn out and went right to bed. at was very unusual.You would always have to go out at night to see and be seen.” Knox was a guard on the beach in the late’60s and early ’70s, and made $43 a week. “I loved it. it was a great summer job… e biggest diﬀerence now is the way the beach is,” he said.“We had tourists back then but nothing like we have now. is place has really exploded.We had one guard per beach, now we have two per stand.” Steen said when he was a guard the pay wasn’t too great, but that didn’t stop him from spending 10 years on the patrol. “We had seven or nine guards.We each had our favorite stations, but rotated,” he said, noting a perk was watching girls walk down the beach.“It was a big responsibility.We had nine guards doing 1 mile of beach. I had a lot of rescues. ere were a couple I was scared to death until I got in… Usually August is the rough surf because you got the winds from the northeast…then the riptides. “Everybody knew everybody. I tell the guards now,‘I’m 72 years

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and Police Station are dedicated

Past

fore we went back to school. We never spent a day of summer in our hometown.” 1973 continued from page 19 Dryden’s father had originally opened a second groSt. Ann’s becomes the cery store in Bethany Beach after a larger store opened official Catholic Church old.When I was guard, 9 of us did what 36 of you do parish, new church is built near his store in Crisfield, worrying that business would now.’” drop off at their only location. It was during those years of service, in 1957, that 1974 “Around 1960, Lewes Dairy built a large market. Parking meters installed Steen’s brother Marvin came up with the idea for what is Once again dad thought they were going to run him out of now Steen’s Beach Service. 1975-76 “My brother was 18 and people kept coming up to Sewer system installed and business,” she said.“e same year dad purchased property the Bethany-Fenwick Area on Middlesex for our third store. At that time he had three the lifeguard stand asking‘where can I get an umbrella?’ So Chamber of Commerce grocery stores.” he went into the mayor’s office and said,‘how about I rent is organized Both of Dryden’s parents were butchers, and her faumbrellas out here? People are hot,’” he said.“Believe me a ther would even bring crabmeat down from Maryland and 1977 long time ago, Bethany wasn’t as populated as it was now. Peter Toth’s American sell it at the stores. e mayor said,‘it takes a business license, which is 10 dol- Indian statue was placed at “e family has always done very well around here,” Routes 1 and 26 lars.’” she said. Marvin Steen had Garfield Parkway, while Ron Steen 1982 In the‘50s, when the Lawson family opened their had First Street in front of the bowling alley. ey started Holiday House store in Bethany, Dryden said the highway was only dirt. obtains the towns first with five umbrellas and now operate eight stands, with an liquor license “Route 1 was not there. It was just a 2-lane dirt road,” undisclosed amount of umbrellas. recalled Psaros. Dryden said once her family’s store was opened in 1984 “e paving on the streets was not all that good,” First July 4th parade Bethany her family never vacationed. and fireworks Young.“When we lived on Second Street they deadded “We were the only ones that worked in there.As we were held cided to pave the streets somewhat better… they put this got older, my brothers and I stood up on milk crates and stuff on that was kind of like clay, which was fine unless it ran the cash register,” she said.“We would leave Crisfield rained. When it rained it of melted and myself and the continued on page 26 [Md.] the day we got out of school and go back the day be-

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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other kids around figured out you could make things out of this stuﬀ…Ashtrays and figurines. at was fun. It would get hard but you couldn’t wash the things.” While there were businesses on the north side of Garfield Parkway, like Lawson’s Sav-A-Stop, the south side was still mostly residential, with the exception of Rhodes 5&10. “e ritual for everybody in Bethany was to go to Rhodes to buy the morning paper,” recalled Psaros, who also had fond memories of Shorty’s Wood Shop and the bake shop in the downstairs room of the boarding house on the boardwalk. “After my sister and I had given up trying to sleep in bed, we would jump on our bikes,” she said.Adding they would buy a dozen sugar cinnamon doughnuts.“We ate half on the way home… If you didn’t get there real early, they were sold out.” When the Lawsons summered in Bethany, there wasn’t much time for play, as the children lived and worked at the family store. “We stayed over top the little one but when he bought this one we had rollaway cots and stayed in the back room of the grocery store.When the store opened in the morning we had to get out because of the business. If we weren’t on the shift, we went down and slept underneath the

1985

boardwalk until we had to work. at was my summers,” Dryden said.“I always wanted to be home. ere weren’t that many children here.” 1994-95 Dryden said that Lawson would always bring young South Coastal Library and Cultural Center opens. kids from Crisfield to work at the grocery stores in the Chief Little Owl totem damaged, and replaced by summers, and they too would stay in the stockroom of the artist Dennis Beach. It was stores. later replaced in 2002 by “One of the children he brought down was Arnold Peter Toth Brown. He was a stock boy for my father. Arnold wanted a 1996 business. He was very energetic, very nice, very businessGroundbreaking held for oriented. He always wanted his own business,” she said. the $1 million town hall, “My father worked it out so Arnold could build a building first Leo Brady Exercise Like the Eskimos held here. It would have to be on a cement slab and dad would still own the land.” 2009 Brown built what was known as the Beach Treat. It South Coastal Library expansion completed was a sandwich, sub and pizza shop, where Sandy Pawz now stands, and ran it for years with his wife before mov2012 Bethany Beach“twinned” ing on to his next big venture. with sister city “Arnold, being the entrepreneur that he was, opened Périers in France the Holiday House. He’s the one that got the liquor license in Bethany ... Apparently he got a lawyer from the city and 2014 Major streetscape project found a loophole in the Town Charter,” said Dryden. is completed after years Brown obtained the liquor license in 1982, changing of planning Bethany from a dry town to a wet one. Bethany held its first Jazz Funeral

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

69 years~ working for you. T

he growth story of Wilgus Associates can be traced back to its origins as a staff of one in a one-room insurance office located on the boardwalk in the Bethany Beach Bowling Alley. William F. Wilgus Jr., once a state senator, started the Wilgus Insurance Agency in 1945. He worked as a bookkeeper for a poultry and insurance firm doing business as Truitt & Steelman, located in Dagsboro. Wilgus purchased the insurance portion of the business from Truitt & Steelman for $1,000. This young insurance company prospered and in 1956, Gerald W. Wilgus joined his father’s business. Gerald Wilgus’ business career began in 1943 when, at the age of 7, he began setting up pins in the family-owned and operated Bethany Beach Bowling Alley, which was built by his grandfather, T.G. Walston, in 1930. Gerald continued as the manager of the bowling alley until it was destroyed during the storm in March of 1962. To fill the void left by the bowling alley’s destruction, Gerald and his older brother Donald expanded the family insurance business to include real estate sales in 1965. Three years later, the business was reorganized and became Wilgus Associates, Inc. It was during the 1980s that Gerald’s three children each graduated from the University of Delaware and joined the company to become the third generation to work at the family business. Michael initially joined the company as a clerk in the Summer Rental Department, advanced on as a rental agent, sales agent and eventually, real estate broker. David began his career at Wilgus in the Insurance Department as an agent and progressed to become the company's insurance broker. Melanie headed the Appraisal Division for a number of years. January of 2002 brought about many corporate changes at Wilgus Associates. Gerald officially retired from the business. Michael became president

while David continued as Wilgus’ secretary~treasurer. Tim Hill, who had originally joined Wilgus Associates in 1985 as a Rental Agent, took over the reigns of the young Property Management Department in 1988. Under Tim’s guidance, Wilgus’ Property Management Department is the area’s leader in Year Round Rentals, Property Maintenance and virtually all levels of HOA services. In July, 2006, Tim Hill became vice president of Wilgus Associates. The first representative of the fourth generation in the Wilgus family began at the family business in June of 2006. Kylie Wilgus Givens, a graduate of Goldey Beacom College, is a real estate agent and assists in many other areas of the company. Without the dedicated staff and the loyal customers over the past 69 years, Wilgus Associates would not have prospered and realized the success that is enjoyed today. Honesty, professionalism, and integrity continue to be the basis on which this company conducts business. To each of you that has done business with us, whether many years ago or just last week, we thank you.

At left, William F. Wilgus reviewing the Storm of 62’s aftermath. Below left, a drawing of the bowling alley by Ann Wilgus. Below, a young Gerald Wilgus working in the bowling alley kitchen. At right, David and Michael Wilgus.

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

Past continued from page 21

“ere were not many restaurants. It was a dry town,” recalled Steen, stating that alcohol became legal to serve in town in 1983.“Holiday House was first. ey had to go to the [Delaware] Supreme Court to get it. It was a big deal… It was a religious community.” Although it had previously been a dry town for over a century, there were instances of alcohol gracing the planks of Bethany Beach’s boardwalk. Robert Brines, a cousin of Wood’s, has a picture of his grandmother Edith Evans Carey in the early 1930s rolling a barrel of beer on the boardwalk, which he said was sold in town during prohibition.

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e growth of a quiet beach town Following the construction of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in 1952, coupled with the Storm of ’62, Bethany began to see a large influx of visitors. “When they built the Bay Bridge, that really changed things around. It was noticeable, but not so much the first couple of years. But then it was an explosion,” said Knox. “It wasn’t until the Bay Bridge that this place started to explode,” said Wood.“Before the Bay Bridge people came here across the ChesaSee Past page 24

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Past continued from page 23

peake Bay on a ferry, and it was mostly the people who visited came from the Washington area.” Many people who visited the town were from the Washington, D.C. area, with prominent names coming to the small town to get away from city life. “We had a lot of people from the diplomatic corps from Washington,” said Young.“We had a number of people in the government who were important. ey wanted to come someplace that was quiet, where nobody knew them. ey didn’t want it to be a spectacle; they wanted to get away from it all. Margaret Truman, the daughter of President Truman would come once in a while. Also Lucy Johnson, President Johnson’s youngest, would come every once in a while.” “As a kid, I had chances to spend time talking with newspaper columnists, judges, a prosecutor at Nuremburg. Most of the conversations were in either the hardware store or fishing on the beach,” said Wood.“William Randolph Hearst, Jr.’s father-in-law had a house in Bethany Beach about two blocks south of Garfield and would come to visit. He and my father were fishing buddies. What did they have in common? Dad had a hardware store, he had a publishing empire, but they went fishing together.”

Shore Foods, far left, where Baja Beach Grill now stands Late 1950s. Courtesy Kathy Dryden

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George Dixon, a famous newspaper columnist, would also spend time in the resort town. “George came to Bethany Beach regularly. I used to cut his grass for $3. at was three times what I got for any other lawn that I cut,” said Wood.“In his book he talked about the Millville, Delaware hardware tycoon and his beautiful wife. “As a kid, I got a chance to do things most kids didn’t get to do. I got the chance to meet people that most people didn’t get to meet. All through working at a hardware store. ere still is a level of Washington orientation,” said Wood, adding that Vice President Joe Biden has vacationed in Bethany Beach. See Past page 26

e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

Past

to worship God in a peaceful setting and breathe the fresh air, and continued from page 24 to an extent, I think Bethany’s the same way.” A Loving Community Parsons said the beauty of the Psaros wrote a book about the town,“Come Back town is not solely based on the gorto Bethany,” which focuses on what went on in the geous beach landscape, but the peotown during three different centuries. ple who built it and still reside there “I would love to have been here in 1681 when today. the Indians were here,” she said, noting that part of “We — the people who live in book is historical fiction imagining what life would our area — considered Bethany, be like.“e Victorian era would’ve been fun too… Ocean View, Millville, Clarksville, yeah e third part of book is in 2004… they were four different town names “Why do people keep coming back to but it was all one community. It was a Bethany Beach? It’s really the ocean, the draw to small town but it was wonderful,” he the ocean. e early settlers were connected to the said.“One of our preachers said this a maritime industry.” couple of years ago and it stuck with me Psaros said she fell in love with the town since the mo- Frances and Edith Carey, at — the difference between a small town the Bethany Dolle’s, where ment she started vacationing there years ago, and eventuand a larger town is, in both situations, almost everybody the Blue Surf now stands. ally retired there. always knows your business. But in a small town the peo1940s. “Both my sister and I came back to Bethany, and I Courtesy Robert Brines ple care. at was a community of love-and take-care-offind that other families do to, because of all that Bethany one-another.”  means to them. It’s a place for family, and friends, and faith Story by Maria Counts and fun,” she said, adding that what draws people to the town today is the same as it was in the 1900s.“ey came

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e

‘Quiet Resort’

ore than 100 years after its founding, Bethany Beach remains, as the Town itself notes in its historical information,“a haven of rest for quiet people.” While the temporary camp sites and early beachfront homes have been washed away with the tide of time, Bethany is still seen as a place of respite, whether for a weekend away, a week of vacation or decades of retirement. If anything marks the changing face of the town in recent decades, it is likely the shift from a transient population of summer visitors and part-time home owners to a growing year-round population buoyed every summer by the arrival of thousands of visitors still eager to call the town home for a short while. e 1990 U.S. Census recorded that 326 people lived in the town — a little more than twice as many as had lived in Bethany Beach in 1940. at number had jumped to 903 by the time the 2000 Census rolled around and has increased steadily since then, with a population of 1,060 recorded in the 2010 Census and unoﬃcial estimates now at more than 1,100 residents.

THE PRESENT

Peace and quiet are two of the major draws Bethany Beach enjoys. Coastal Point photo by Shaun M. Lambert

at increase has been particularly evident in its retiree population, as the town’s largest population group, measured in five-year age brackets, is those 60 to 64, at 16.4 percent of the town’s population. In fact, more than 58 percent of the town’s residents are 55 or older, with just 6 percent being 19 or younger. e median age of Bethany Beach residents is will let many of them start collecting their Social Security benefits, at 63.8. at has translated into the varied uses for the town’s 2,653 housing units. Of those, just 566 are occupied fulltime (503 by their owners), while 1,921 are used seasonally, recreationally or occasionally. “It used to be almost always people were looking at ‘What kind of rental income will I see?’” recalled Bethany Beach-area real estate broker Michael Wilgus, whose family has been in the insurance business in the area since 1945 and in real estate since 1964.“I’m seeing so much more than in years past where people want to concentrate on having their property available to them in summer or

e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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the oﬀ-season.” Wilgus said he’s observed that many of those buyers are of an age to be planning their retirement, between 45 and 55. “ey want a second home in convenient driving distance, where the family can gather or have a quick getaway. A lot of them are still working, not yet retired.” “Rentability is still high,” he said of buyers’ priorities. “ere are plenty of people who want to come and rent places. But it seems the closer you get to the ocean, the more the inventory is diminishing. People want to use that property themselves,” he added, saying that if people can afford to buy for their own use, they prefer not having to worry about rental income.“ey want to be able use it.” e geographic origins of many of these part-time residents continue to be in the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia metro areas. “I’m seeing people coming from towns outside of the Washington Beltway and suburban areas of southeast Pennsylvania and south-central Pennsylvania,” Wilgus noted. With the shift from rental investment properties to

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more second homes and retirement destinations has come a change in the architecture seen around the town. “A lot of people are coming into town to retire here,” said Marie Cahill, broker/owner at Connor-Jacobsen Realty who has more than a quarter-century of experience in the local real estate market.“e houses — the old cottages that are being purchased — these big, big three-story houses are going up in their place. We’re seeing that this seems to be the way of the future.” e Town has taken note of that and, as of 2014, was working to put legislation in place to better control residential building bulk. And, as of 2014, Cahill said the area has clearly put the Great Recession behind it:“e market is coming back. It’s not like the prices are going out of sight, but we are busy. Business has picked up, inventory has gone down.” While those big houses are the current trend, Cahill said there’s still a variety of housing available in Bethany Beach, for those who are in the market and have the money to spend to live close to the beach. “ere is such a big gap in pricing, depending on where you are in Bethany. Of course, oceanfront is most expensive, ocean block, the west side of Route 1… It really depends on their pocketbook.You go from multimillionSee Present page 30

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

Bethany throughout the year.” Beach “I like it. It’s busy in summertime,” said Ron Steen, by the numbers

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dollar to into the $300,000s, high $200,000s, from cottage to townhouse to mansion. Even some of the cottages go for over a million dollars, so it really depends on where it is, the closeness to the ocean and how new it is and how large the lot is. It runs the spectrum.” “It’s still all over the board,” Wilgus said of today’s Bethany real estate market.“ere are about 99 condos and houses for sale, of which 11 are under contract.” He said the lowest-priced homes run around $305,000 for a single-family home or $205,000 for a condominium unit. From there, the sky’s the limit. Houses get up to $2.1 million, $2.5 million, with an outlier of the oceanfront, at $3.85 million, he said. e highest condo is in the Cedar Sands community oﬀ Atlantic Avenue — $1.2 million or $1.3 million. en prices drop to about $500,000. Wilgus said a number of factors contribute to people being willing to pay those kinds of prices for a place near the beach.“Convenience, being close to the shore, the short drive, having a very nice quality of life,” he oﬀered, noting that homes run from“cottage to extravagant,” though he agreed that the trend over recent years has been away from the modest cottages of the town’s past. “e days of the quaint old Bethany cottages seem to be going by the wayside,” he said, adding that people are willing to make an investment in these vacation and, in many cases, future retirement homes.

Summer fun, shoulder-season’s peaceful run Cahill said the town’s appeal is obvious to those who’ve been there. “It’s a beautiful town, and everybody knows it. ey come here and they fall in love with it, and then it’s a matter of what they can aﬀord to purchase. e people who want to stay forever are the people who are ready to retire and they see what it’s like here, and they like the idea of it,” she said. “I look at Bethany Beach as a model coastal Delaware community,” said Vice-Mayor Lew Killmer.“It is beautiful throughout the year — made possible by Melinda Linde and her assistant Jessica Williamson, as well as members of the Public Works Department. e Town is unique compared to other coastal communities by the fact that is family-oriented, it has a boardwalk, a welcoming downtown commercial business district, provides top-notch Townprovided services, sponsors and holds community events

Population: 1,060 people

Area: 1.2 square miles, of which 1.1 square miles is land and .04 square miles is water.

Population density: 883 people per square mile

Median age of residents: 63.8 years Population includes 165 U.S. military veterans, more than a third of them having served in the Vietnam era — figures from 2010 Census

whose family has been supplying rental umbrellas, chairs and more to beachgoers for more than 50 years, and who lives on Parkwood Street downtown.“e beaches are crowded, and now, right now after Labor Day, they’re not crowded. It’s calm.You maybe get a rush on the weekends.” e area has become so popular that the growth has expanded beyond Bethany Beach town limits and into communities in North Bethany, along with the well-established Sea Colony and Middlesex Beach to the south. “We’re in a good spot,” said North Bethany resident Carol Psaros, who has lived full-time in the area for 14 years and whose family has owned property there since the 1950s.“It still is quiet, relative to those other places,” she said of other beach towns.“I think in the ’60s they made a good choice by letting Sea Colony being built, because it brought so many people in,” but it didn’t destroy the soul of the town, she added. “We’ve been very blessed in Delaware to have the state law and the county ordinances supportive of keeping it more natural,” Psaros said.“e ocean, the sand, the seas, the salt… e sunrises and the moonrises — I think there’s nothing more beautiful than when the moon rises over the ocean. Over the years, I’ve seen every description of sea creature,” she recalled.“Not just turtles, birds, osprey, but manatees, whales, seals, stingrays, manta rays.” Nature has gotten a little bit of help from man in recent years, as major beach replenishment projects along the Delaware shore have expanded beachfronts and reconstructed the protective dunes that had structures built over them decades ago. “e shells aren’t quite what they used to be, with the beach replenishment,” Psaros acknowledged.“You’ve got to learn to change with the times, and without beach replenishment,” the area would be at the mercy of the sea. …“I hope the gods are kind to us and Bethany, and we won’t suﬀer anything like New Jersey did,” she said of the ravages of Hurricane Sandy. Meanwhile, the Town has also made improvements to its boardwalk, replacing worn salt-treated lumber boards with engineered-wood Kebony boards, which oﬀer a 50-year lifespan and are less likely to crack, peel and splinter. e Town in 2008 also instituted the state’s first ban prohibiting smoking on the beach, as well as the bandstand area, boardwalk and in town parks, except where designated. e move has earned the Town honors from the American Lung Association and led the way for other area towns, and more nationwide, to adopt similar bans. It followed up on the ban in 2014, adding the newly popular e-

e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

THE PRESENT

cigarettes and other forms of smoking to the ban. While these changes have modified aspects of one of the town’s main features and biggest attractions, Psaros said the town has survived such changes and retained its small-town character. “It’s still a wonderful place — not that we haven’t lost things that I like — but change is going to happen.And as times go, Bethany has survived. It has not turned into a concrete jungle like Ocean City. It’s still nice place for families to have a quiet vacations.” All in all, she said,“I think they’ve changed for the better, and I think the town of Bethany has done a wonderful job of staying true to its original.” Ted and Donna Ware, formerly of Wilmington, Del., and now living in Albany, N.Y., said there are a lot of things to like about Bethany Beach, including much of what hasn’t changed in the 50-some years Ted Ware has been coming to the town. “Everything,” he said in describing what he likes about Bethany, highlighting the local golf courses, bodysurfing opportunities and the Town’s increasingly impactful floral displays.“I think it’s a great little town. …What’s not to like?” Donna Ware said she likes that Bethany is safe.“When our kids used to sneak out, we knew where to find them,” she said, also noting the comparative lack of high-rise structures.“Our kids grew up vacationing here. Our parents were here with us.” “It’s been a family tradition for 40-plus years,” Ted Ware noted.

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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       

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“is time of year’s great — so quiet,” he said of the period just after Labor Day. (Donna Ware hushed him, telling him to not let the secret out, joking that, in other places they had raved about the hotels so much that they couldn’t get in the next year because all the rooms were booked.) In Bethany, the Wares and the Coﬀman and Orr families typically rent a beach house for their vacations, enjoying sitting on the deck, having cocktails, eating Fisher’s Popcorn, having a crab feast and bicycling. It’s a story many local residents have in their past: Connie Coﬀman of Richmond, Va., said she heard about Bethany from some friends, and her family has now been vacationing in the area for eight years. Sandy Orr of Enfield, N.H., said his family has been coming to the area for about 15 years. And they’ve increasingly been able to enjoy the town as the summer season winds down. Killmer said it is the property buyers nearing their retirement years who have helped shift the town to a more yearround existence. “With their arrival, they are creating a critical mass of individuals with spendable incomes to better support a more year-round business community that focuses on their needs and not just for those who vacation in Bethany Beach during the summer months,” he said. e quiet environment and natural features of the area have always appealed to people, but when looking for a place to retire, it’s more than the area’s oft-touted low property taxes that keeps people in Bethany Beach year-round. “e summertime is the big focus. But, boy, 12 months out of the year — the beauty never ceases to amaze me. Just driving past Bethany in the morning… e way sunlight hits the dunes…” mused Delaware Seashore State Park Superintendent Doug Long. And with the appreciation of that year-round appeal, the very nature of the place has changed. No longer does a busy summer season abruptly shift to a nearly vacant town after Labor Day. Instead, people have discovered the wonders of the fall and late-spring“shoulder seasons,” which in turn has created more demand for year-round events, which have in turn created even more reasons for people to stick around after summer has gone. Ted Ware acknowledged that summertime has its down sides.“It’s busier, harder to get into restaurants,” he said. “But the kids liked it,” said Donna Ware.“ere’s more to do.”

Family-friendly, year-round respite “I think Bethany Beach has done a good job maintaining a familyoriented atmosphere in town, where there are a lot of activities for all ages,” said Wilgus.“ere’s a lot of action occurring four months of the year. e other eight months, it’s just a quiet coastal community. It has more action than it used to, certainly, but the pace, the traﬃc all slows down or goes away.”

e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

THE PRESENT

Even those who appreciate its quiet nature recognize the benefits of expanded year-round options. Asked what she does for fun, Psaros said,“Everything! I do a lot inland with my friends and my church.” Psaros is also vice-president of the Ocean View Historical Society, which has been among the groups leading a growing wave of interest in the area’s history as so many adopt it as their full-time home.“ere’s more to do now than ever. Every weekend there’s a festival or a race or an event in Bethany, or in Dewey or Ocean City. “e only quiet months here are January, February and part of March,” she noted.“All the restaurants now stay open all year. at is so not like old Bethany.” Steen said the local culinary scene is also a highlight for him. “e one thing I’ve seen that’s really made it sweet is a number of really good restaurants around here,” he noted. “It’s just crazy, the demand. People are just tired of the city. ey just want to come out.” “Bethany Beach today is a very dynamic growing community,” said Bethany Beach Volunteer Fire Company Public Information Oﬃcer Joe Hopple.“It’s obviously a resort community, but it’s expanding and continues to be busier as the summer goes — especially in the summer, but even in the shoulder seasons.

“We’re not having the oﬀ-seasons that we used to have,” Hopple noted.“I think more people are staying longer.” He said that has put increasing pressure on the fire company, which not only has to respond to fire emergencies in one of the state’s longest fire districts (stretching from the Indian River Inlet to Fenwick Island), but to medical emergencies, as well. In 2009, the Millville Volunteer Fire Company’s EMS service, which had served the area for decades but had struggled to keep up with a growing local population, reduced its service area, eliminating service to Bethany and its coastal neighbors. e Bethany Beach company picked up the job, forming for the first time an ambulance service, with support from the towns of Bethany Beach, South Bethany and Fenwick Island, as well as the Sea Colony Community, each collecting an annual fee that goes directly to the EMS service. “We talked to the towns, and we asked,‘Do you want us to provide ambulance service?’ ey said yes,” Hopple recalled, noting that the expansion was needed.“ere have been several points when all three ambulances have been at Beebe the whole time, and Millville has been there. It shows you how the volume of EMS is expanding. e older community that used to have summer homes here is See Present page 35

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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THE PRESENT

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now retired to those summer homes.” Hopple said the fire company is still being challenged to keep up with the increasing volume, even with a third ambulance purchased this year. at’s especially challenging in the summer, when the area’s population reaches its peak. “e county can grow to three to four times its oﬀseason population,” Hopple said of the summers.

Paystations and trolleys and Streetscape — Oh, my! With so many people finding and returning to Bethany as their summertime haven, parking has been another area of change for the town, as the constant press of visitors and residents seeking to enjoy the beach and downtown businesses has seen it move from coin-operated parking meters throughout the downtown area to, in 2010, a combination of parking paystations and a few remaining meters, adding a mobile device-based parking payment option in 2014. at’s in addition to the option of taking the town trolley between stops on both the east and west sides of town. “I think we have like 900 year-round residents,” said Steen.“In the summer, we probably have 25,000. Parking is at a premium, and the Town has accommodated people by having these little trolleys.” e Town also moved in 2011 to add more parking spaces, reaching agreements with a private property owner and the fire company to make public parking spaces available on the two lots. ose additions more than oﬀset the loss of parking from the Streetscape renovation of downtown Bethany, which was approved in 2011, after a decade of discussion and revision, and got under way in late 2012. e final stage of the project is set for completion in the fall of 2014. e project in the 100 and beach blocks of Garfield Parkway has given the downtown area a functional and aesthetic facelift, moving parallel parking from the curbside to center medians and eliminating utility poles in favor of underground utility lines — opening up the sidewalks to pedestrians, who no longer feel quite so cramped as summertime crowds make their way to and from the beach. “I would say it’s one of the best-run, best-managed coastal communities in Delaware,” said Killmer.“We’re fiscally sound.We have little to no debt.We’ve been very blessed by having availability of both grant money for the

THE PRESENT



I’m really very impressed with the way people have such a spirit for this town, the people that run it, and the people that live here full-time, and even part-time.They really do keep it up and I think people feel very secure here, and I think that’s what makes it so popular especially families that come here and enjoy walking around, whether families or couples or singles.



—Marie Cahill

Streetscape, as well as qualifying for low-interest loans on our water tower,” he added of the project to replace the Town’s existing water standpipe. e new elevated water tower is akin to the one that was a landmark in the town for so many years but which made way for the new town hall, and the town museum within, in 1996. “e beautification of the town is an ongoing project and is a model for other coastal Delaware communities,” Killmer said.“I think we have one of the nicest downtown areas, with the plantings and flowers. Streetscape will add total charm and, hopefully, encourage businesses to make their outsides nicer.” Mayor Jack Gordon, who purchased property in the town in 1990 and retired there with his wife, Joan, in 1999, agreed that the impact of projects small and large has been very visible in recent years.“We’re beautifying the town. It gets lovelier as the horticulturalist beautifies the street.” Gordon said cooperation between the town and its neighbors is a key reason there are so few problems on the horizon, and a little planning doesn’t hurt either. “I think the town is definitely going in the right direction,” Gordon said.“We’ve been financially sound throughout the downturn. We make sure we operate our budget in a responsible way in that we do not use the transfer taxes in any way as an operational fund, so we’re in very good shape, and we intend to keep it that way. “And we have improved the looks of the town and improved the infrastructure of the town over a period of time, and I think things have been in a positive trend,” he added.

Full-time or part-time, people get involved Killmer, who bought his current house with his wife, Maureen, on the town’s west side in 1990 and retired there in 2002, said he’s a reformed Jersey shore vacationer, having lived in the Philadelphia area. “We had dear friends who vacationed here and brought property,” he recalled of what led them to Bethany. “It was a very reasonable cost of buying a property at the time and the cost of maintaining it. We could afford to keep two houses.You couldn’t do that at the Jersey shore.” Living on the west side of Route 1, Killmer said he’s noticed a different atmosphere there. “It’s much bigger on the western side. It’s mostly yearround people on that side,” he said.“It’s a different kind of environment. If you walked down on the east side — say in a month or so — in the evening, you’ll see very few lights on. On the west you’ll see many lights on because … that’s

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

   

 



     36

e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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where people live, where they vote, where their cars are registered.” Killmer pointed out that Bethany property owners can all vote in town elections, regardless of whether they live in the town, and that offers a chance for non-resident property owners to get involved in the town, just as if they were residents.And get involved they do. “We typically get 1,000 to 1,500 voters in a typical election,” he noted. at’s in addition to the many town committees that offer the chance to contribute to subjects as far ranging as the town museum, comprehensive planning, finances and Fourth of July parade, which the Town itself only took over from its longtime volunteer organizers in 2014. Killmer said the town“has members of the community who volunteer and share their expertise, work experience and their love of Bethany Beach by serving on Town committees, and the Town is always forward-thinking, by always planning for the future, which includes planning for such things as weather-related disaster. e Town has also made an effort in recent years to reach out to local business owners, who have increasingly

sought ways to expand their seasons beyond the summer, including through new events, such as the Wags, Witches & Warlocks event that now takes place annually at Halloween. Betsy Clark of Japanesque said it’s Bethany’s established generations-long appeal that led her to opening the eclectic boutique on Pennsylvania Avenue. “My grandparents actually vacationed in Ocean City. at’s where they dated and had their memories. ey were headed to Rehoboth” to buy a house, she said,“but stopped in Bethany. … I had vacationed and worked myself in that town. It’s amazing — you can go all over the world and find people that know Bethany Beach:‘My grandmother has a house there!’‘Japanesque? I’ve shopped there!’” Clark said Sea Colony’s condominiums brought an influx of people from Washington and Baltimore, making the area a little more cosmopolitan and international. “It’s a little international spot,” she said.“We’ve had generations of shoppers. It’ll be like 30 years next year for us. It’s all been good. We’ve seen it go from something unusual — especially having a Japanese theme and people walking right by the store — to this is the hottest, coolest thing, like,‘My kids are learning Japanese in school right now!’” she said she’s heard customers say.“My philosophy is

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to always learn something new. I hope they’re always learning something new and experiencing something new.” While new is good, Clark said she is glad Bethany has stayed the same in at least one way. “I think that they’ve kept it family-friendly and very safe,” she said. ough Japanesque has been in Bethany for three decades, it’s not the town’s oldest business nor the only one focusing on family-friendliness. Rhodes 5&10 still anchors the 100 block of Garfield Parkway, after 45 years. “We’ve kept it a family business, to coincide with the family atmosphere of Bethany Beach,” said Diane Turnahan, daughter of founder Arnold Rhodes and owner of Fish Tales just across the street, had said as the shop approached its 40th anniversary. “We have many employees that we’ve had for many, many years. Lisa, our current manager — we’ve had her mother working here, her sisters, her son, her nieces and nephews.And my own family — my husband, Bob, and five children — all have a part in working here.” It was a similar story down the street at the Blue Surf Motel, and for about a decade more, as the McCabe family operated the landmark boardwalk-fronting motel starting in 1959 until its demolition in 2007, when it was redeveloped as condominiums and shops — one of which is a toy



Let’s hope it doesn’t change too much from what it is now. It’s a place where families can vacation secure in the notion that it will be peaceful, quiet, and wholesome. I think it would be best if it always stays a place where generations of families will want to visit to enjoy the qualities we experience– and value highly.



—Gordon Wood

store run by Lori (McCabe) Smyth,Tidepool Toys & Games. And right next door to the Blue Surf stood the Bethany Arms Motel, operated by the Powell family since 1957. e Bethany Arms was demolished in 2014, to make way for the flagship Bethany Beach Ocean Suites hotel, slated to open in 2015 — a second big change for the boardwalk area in less than a decade, but one that guarantees that, for the foreseeable future, people can still rent a room overlooking the Bethany Beach boardwalk. Steen noted that the summer life in the resort town is often complementary to the oﬀ-season life people have had in the area for decades, a multi-faceted work/play/work environment that keeps people busy and paychecks coming. “ose 38 years — all my life I had two jobs: Teaching, and then I go right straight out into the beach service,” said the retired Indian River High School teacher.“ere are lifeguards now that are teachers and then lifeguards. And that’s pretty good, I think.” e mix of long-standing tradition, long-running family involvement and community spirit can often be seen in the town. “I think Bethany’s a great town and a village,” Steen See Present page 40

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said, adding that people look out for each other. Nowhere is that more evident than in two of the town’s many charitable outreaches: Justin’s Beach House and Operation SEAs the Day. Justin’s Beach House is designed as a getaway where families dealing with cancer can stay at the beach. e home located on Bethany’s west side was built in 2010 on donated land, with funding raised from within the community and donated labor and materials from members of Contractors for a Cause. e three-story, six-bedroom, 5.5-bathroom house can accommodate 12 people, and the community continues to come together to oﬀer support for the enterprise and the families who take respite there. e project was the vision of Craig and Mary Ellen Nantais, who in 2000 lost their son Justin Jennings, at age 19, after his battle with brain cancer. Justin’s Beach House was designed to resonate his love and passion for the beach and serve as an escape from the hardships that other cancer patients and their families experience, day in and day out. “is year, 34 families have stayed with us, from 20 referring facilities,” the couple wrote in December 2012.“Our

guests traveled from Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C., New York and Maryland. e ages of our guests have ranged from 2 to 87, and each and every one have left us a message of what a wonderful time they had during their stay at Justin’s Beach House. “It gave them an opportunity to take a much-needed break from the day-to-day realities of their cancer. e stay at Justin’s also gave them the time to reconnect with their families and to renew their souls.” Operation SEAs the Day’s mission is“to organize and facilitate a beach week event for our wounded soldiers and their families as a means of showing our appreciation for their service and sacrifice. It is our hope that such a community-based gesture of support will be comforting and help ease their transition back into civilian life,” organizers said. e idea was created by Diane Pohanka and Becky Johns, who made their dream into a reality in 2013, when 25 families were invited to and attended Warrior Beach Week, totaling more than 100 people. For its second year, 30 families visited the Quiet Resorts from Sept. 2 to Sept. 7, 2014, and the idea has already been taken up in other communities around the nation. In its first year, the event was embraced by the entire Bethany Beach community, according to board member

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Rob Arlett, who described the response as“incredible.” “is last year, being the first for Operation SEAs the Day, could not have gone better. e community rallied in complete support of our very important families (VIFs) by giving of their time, eﬀort, money and hearts. I totally believe that the community has‘fallen in love’ with the mission and the families. “People of all ages participated,” he noted.“We believe in community involvement and desire to include more of the local community with our mission, not less. Everyone from our Bethany Beach and surrounding communities should be so very proud of themselves for what they have done and will continue to do by serving these very important families.”



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

—Jack Burbage

Along with Streetscape, renovation has also been a focus for the town’s public library, as the South Coastal Library got a major makeover in 2007, increasing the building’s size from roughly 10,000 square feet to nearly 22,000 square feet and introducing an abundance of new options for patrons. e new building saw the addition of study and reading sections, business and meeting rooms, and a fully func-

tioning classroom, complete with computers — more than double what was originally offered, up from 11 to 24. e project also expanded the children’s and teens’ rooms, as well as adding a reading garden. While the town was founded as part of the summer retreats of the Disciples of Christ (Bethany Beach Christian Church), the church itself hasn’t remained stuck in the early 20th century. e original octagonal tabernacle building that was the first permanent structure in the town was rebuilt for its 100th anniversary, in 2001. In 2012, it was time for the church’s conference center dormitory, Campbell Hall, to meet the 21st century, when the 80-year-old structure was razed and replaced with a new building better able to accommodate the ongoing summer retreats and the volunteers who need a place to stay while in the area. e new structure is designed to avoid the flooding that plagued the old one and offers 72 beds, in both dormstyle rooms assigned to either men or women, with semiprivate bathrooms, and family-style suites, some of which have private baths. Some of the bedrooms and their private baths are now handicapped-accessible, and the whole structure, for the first time, offers central heating and air conditioning. See Present page 42

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Present

ing particularly to his concerns about revised federal flood maps and other things impacting the cost of flood insurance for property owners. “Many, many years ago, a former town council member, Jane Fowler, commented, regarding flooding,‘e only thing that the Town can really do to address the issue of flooding is to provide a pair of boots to all our residents.’ Unfortunately, her insight might not be too far from the truth, keeping in mind the potential impact of both sealevel rise and global warming might have on the town.” at’s a concern on the horizon, but Killmer said it’s through the work of Graviet and other town staff members that the Town has come so far with dealing some portion of with the flooding problem it has experienced for decades. “e Town has been blessed by having a town manager such as Cliff Graviet, who is a forward-thinking leader with excellent organizational skills. e Town has a devoted staff that, because of our small size, requires each employee to wear multiple hats throughout the year. e fact that the Town has virtually no turnover in staff each year speaks volumes to the fact that it is a great place to work and one where they are all treated with respect, dignity and high degree of professionalism,” he said.

continued from page 41

Of course, Campbell Hall isn’t the only area of town that’s been regularly subjected to flooding over the years. As of mid-2014, the jury remained out as to whether there is an affordable solution to the town’s long-running problems with tidal flooding, as the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers’ most recent survey of the issue hadn’t yet given town officials a verdict. But the Town has made significant strides in recent years in battling the compounding problem of rainwatercaused flooding; with a major effort to clear and re-work existing drainage systems in areas where rainwater tends to collect, including in sections of Bethany West and N. Pennsylvania Avenue. “It’s nothing that’s going to resolve the issues with tidal flooding, but now it drains much more quickly,” Town Manager Cliff Graviet told council members in July of 2014. Even during recent“significant” rain events, Graviet noted, within 12 to 24 hours, the area was dry, except for some puddling on the shoulders. “Flooding has always been an issue from the founding of the Town to present day and, sadly, it will probably remain as part of our future,” Killmer acknowledged, point-

See Present page 45

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Present continued from page 42

Back to nature and down on the farm Flooding is also a common sight at the Bethany Beach Nature Center on the town’s west side, just oﬀ Route 26. But there, it’s something that was planned to begin with. e Delaware Center for the Inland Bays and the Town of Bethany Beach have a partnership to provide nature experiences and watershed education at the center. e 26-acre conservation area includes forested uplands, freshwater uplands and tidal wetlands, with a trail taking visitors and exercise-minded pedestrians through the area with minimal impact to nature. e Bethany Beach Nature Center’s indoor facility is located inside the historic Addy Cottage, which was moved to the site and restored by the Town. In addition to the trail, which is open from dawn to dusk, there is a handicapped-accessible boardwalk where educational signs abound. Inside the center, visitors can explore the watershed virtually, through the high-tech“I-wall.” e Nature Center is open to the public, but Bethany Beach residents and visitors have even more natural won-

der coming for their recreational pleasure, as the new town park is just starting to take shape, with the 2014 survey of town citizens as to what they’d like to see in a park developed on the former Christian Church and Neﬀ properties at the northwest corner of Routes 26 and 1. Almost since the Town purchased the property, the consensus from the town council has been to create a park there that would feature open space and minimal facilities, such as benches, landscaping, paths and perhaps some exercise stations. e survey voiced citizens’ wide support for that sort of vision, leading the council in the summer of 2014 to approve sending the project to bids for a landscape architect to design several options that would lead to a final design. In the intervening years, the Town has used its own employees to do preliminary work on the site, leaving an open, green space with a sparse covering of healthy trees that will eventually form the base for the park, which Killmer said he thinks is going to be“a gem.” “Not everybody who comes to the beach wants to be on the beach all the time,” he said.“It’s quiet, but in the downtown area. I, personally, think it will be well used. It’s more of a natural setting, keeping in mind that the property is totally surrounded by downtown properties. WalkSee Present page 47

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ing trails, plantings, walkways, low-intensity lighting — these are some of the features people want. Keep it as natural as possible and also keep the cost down.” Cost isn’t so much of an issue for the Town as concerns for the planned Assawoman Canal Trail Park, which was expected to begin construction in the fall of 2014, under the auspices of the State of Delaware. Long said the project — being created with partners from the Towns of Ocean View, Bethany Beach and South Bethany, and the communities of Sea Colony, Salt Pond and Waterside — will run one mile from property next to Bethany Surf Shop in Ocean View to Central Avenue, along the west side of the Assawoman Canal. At the Town Road public access point, there will be a small, 10-space parking lot, restroom, shade structure and a “spot to toss a kayak into the canal,” described Long. He said the 8-foot-wide“stone-dust” trail will be ADA-accessible and meander for a mile through the woods along the canal and end at Central Avenue in Ocean View, for now. “at was actually quite unique from the state parks,” Long said of the project, as typically new parks are the State Parks’ idea.“In this case, the towns came to us,” he noted.“Wouldn’t it be great to get a trail to link your communities?” Long acknowledged that there have been challenges involved, with six or seven different communities needing to“kind of agree” on the same concept.“Fortunately, we’ve had a couple public meetings to see what they want and don’t want. ere’s some naturally NIMBY [not in my backyard] attitude. Some folks are kind of leery,” he said. But the State has worked to assuage many of those concerns, assuring people of plans for safety measures and privacy to be maintained for neighboring property owners. Delaware Seashore State Park is already a major destination for locals and visitors alike, running along a narrow 6-mile strip from Dewey Beach to south of the Indian River Inlet, then skipping over private and public beaches in the communities and towns around Bethany before resuming near Fenwick Island. Fishing, camping, surfing, swimming and more are on tap on those beaches each summer and well beyond, and recent improvements made in conjunction with the building of the new Indian River Inlet Bridge offer even more for visitors to the park, marina and campground there. e park service also manages Holt’s Landing, ompsons Island and other remote tracts of natural land that offer a wide variety of recreation and nature-observing opportunities.

THE PESENT



I go to St. Martha’s Episcopal Church. Almost our whole congregation is mostly retired from the city and moved to the beach, so we’re kind of a retirement community. It seems they stay here for six months, then they go to Florida for six months.



—Ron Steen

“On peak holidays, we still get complaints about crowds, on Saturday and Sunday,” Long said,“but wait two days and come on a Tuesday or Wednesday, and you still have a wide-open beach to be alone with your thoughts.” Long attributed the value of the coastal state parks today to planning done by state oﬃcials decades ago.“A lot of these state park beaches were established in late ’60s. What foresight they had! Now all the area that’s not in the state park is developed. at’s not a bad thing,” he said of the preservation of the state park lands. While nearby state parks oﬀer a bevy of things to do and there are at least two park projects on Bethany’s horizon, residents and visitors already have more opportunities to get up close to the natural world each summer, as local farmers and food producers bring their wares to the Bethany Beach Farmers’ Market each Sunday morning at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Garfield Parkway. e farmers’ market is designed to serve as a timeless connection, market organizer Carrie Bennett said when the market opened for its inaugural season in 2007, to an era when local farmers carried their produce in horsedrawn wagons into Bethany Beach to sell freshly-grown crops to the townspeople. “at’s the tradition we were trying to revive here: the relationship between the growers and the townspeople,” Bennett said.“Once you purchase locally grown food, you’re reluctant to purchase anything else.” at’s led to an expansion of farmers’ markets throughout the local towns, including one at Sea Colony. So while farmers are no longer allowed to sell produce from trucks that travel down the streets with bells a’ringing, the ties of the local populace to the local farmer remain part of the town’s character.

Planning ahead for the beach community of tomorrow Few Bethany Beach oﬃcials have had more involvement in using today to prepare for the future than Killmer, who has served on the town’s Planning Commission for the better part of a decade and as its president and/or council liaison for much of that time. He’s led the Town through multiple revisions of its comprehensive plan and planning and land-use codes, as well as the creation of its first commercial lodging zone. “Growth is always a two-edged sword,” he said.“On one hand, growth fuels needed improvements and upgrades that are primarily paid for by the additional fees and taxes that are collected; but on the other hand, it causes problems that are a direct result of overcrowding (clogged

e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

See Present page 49

e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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roadways, crowded beaches, inadequate parking, crowded stores and restaurants, increased crime, etc.).” Killmer said the Town has worked to deal with those issues as best it can, including the parking lot agreements and the trolley service, which transports as many as 40,000 people to the beach and downtown area from May to September, as well as the construction of the new water tower to improve reserve water capacity, along with the quality of the water provided to customers. Looking at Bethany Beach today, the picture on the horizon seems rosy, Killmer said. “I see nothing but positive things for Bethany in the future. I think one of the key benefits of not just Bethany, but many coastal communities: we have a fantastic collection of retired people who’ve had outstanding positions in many industries, from banking to CPAs to company presidents — you name it.We have this unbelievable resource of talent that is … individuals who are gracious to oﬀer their intellect and expertise in service to the town.” Killmer said a bright future for the town may include a continuation of that expansion to a more year-round community and a more sustainable environment for its businesses. “My hopes include the addition of new businesses that cater to the needs of our year-round residents, with the new downtown Marriott hotel being the catalyst for drawing individuals, groups, conventions, conferences, weddings, etc., to Bethany Beach — especially during the shoulder seasons,” he said of the periods from April to May and September to November,“by creating a business environment that will entice businesses to remain open after the summer season ends.” Psaros said she’s loath to guess what changes could be coming to the area, but she thinks the town’s history has put it in a good position moving forward. “Who can predict the future? We are in a good place. e town mothers and fathers have worked hard to make it what it is today. Really, we can thank those Victorian people who came in 1900 and laid out the town so well,” she said. Killmer said he thinks the growing sense of community among the people of Bethany Beach will be key to its future, building upon the aspirations of its founders and perhaps even going beyond them. “When you have a community composed of individuals and families that call Bethany Beach their home — not simply a place to visit or stay only during the summer — it changes everything!” he said. “Caring people create a community that expresses to the members of that community that together they can create something special and enduring! eir combined eﬀorts become synergistic in nature, resulting in creating a‘home’ that we all call Bethany Beach, that is even better than our founders could even imagine was possible.”  Story by M. Patricia Titus

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

Chief Little Owl

e story of the Bethany totem pole

ust as totems have served as symbols for diﬀerent groups of people throughout the world, the Bethany landmark, also known as Chief Little Owl, has served as a symbol for the town and its residents, as well. e 24-foot statue at the downtown entrance of Bethany Beach across from Route 26, depicting a north-facing eagle and Nanticoke Indian Chief that stands today, is actually the third installment of the monument since 1976, when sculptor Peter Wolf Toth donated the original to the town. e work was Toth's 10th statue of his "Trail of Whispering Giants," which now consists of 74 similar statues ranging from 20 to 40 feet high, with at least one placed in each of the 50 states. ere are also several in Canadian Providences and territories, all carved by Toth in an eﬀort to honor Native Americans. For his Delaware piece,Toth chose to honor the Nanticoke tribe, which have also been known as "e People of the Tidewater" — a group that has resided throughout Delaware for over 300 years. Little Owl was Charles C. Clark, a World-War 1 veteran that served as Chief of the Naticokes from 1933 until his death in 1971. His grandmother, Lydia Clark, also known as Princess Nau-GauOkwa, was believed to be the last of the Nanticokes to speak their native language. In 1992, a January storm dislodged the then 27-foot statue. When Town leaders had it taken to the ground for safety, they found that termites and rot had left it beyond repair. Although it has been reported that what's left of the original can be found at the Nanticoke Indian Museum in Millsboro, the museum does not actually have the remains, and stated that it was too damaged to keep. Sculptor Dennis Beach carved the second statue, but it would only last until 2000 when it had to again be taken down because the wood began to rot due of weather damage. See Chief page 52

e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

CHIEF LITTLE OWL

Bethany Beach is a very small and affluent beach town located between Rehoboth Beach and Ocean City (MD) in southern Delaware. The population is just under 1,000 although it swells to 15,000 during the summer holidays. Bethany Beach was founded in 1901 by the Christian Missionary Society as a summer resort and Chatauqua-type summer resort. It was dry until recently and even now the number of bars and hours of sale for alcohol are tightly regulated. The town has considerable resources, including a short boardwalk and restaurants. The town has a total area of 1.2 square miles, of which, 1.1 square miles of it is land and 0.04 square miles of it (1.71%) is water. This area is popular both as a resort and as a retirement destination. It opened up when the Chesapeake Bay Bridge first opened in 1952. Bethany Beach and nearby towns Lewes, South Bethany, Dewey, Rehoboth Beach, Fenwick Island comprise most of the Delaware shore resort area. Bethany Beach, South Bethany, and Fenwick Island are popularly known as "The Quiet Resorts". Delaware is a desirable place to retire due to its taxfriendly status.

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Chief continued from page 50

It would be two years until the newest version of the statue would take its place with Toth being called upon once again. is time he used red cedar log from Alaska, which is expected to last anywhere from 50

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to 150 years. e former statue, carved by Beach, was made of white oak. To ensure further longevity for the new statue, it was also blessed by Charlie "Little Owl" Clark IV," a descendent of Little Owl who once served as assistant chief of the Nanticoke Indian Tribe. ere was a ceremony held on July 15, 2002, where then-State Sen. George H. Bunting claimed, "it's a landmark that says 'you're in Bethany,' and it pays honor to the Nanticoke nation. It ties us to our heritage." Today Chief Little Owl's statue serves a variety of purposes. People use it as a reference when they're giving directions.ey take pictures with it. ey take pictures of it. ey even tag themselves at "e Bethany Totem Pole" on social media. More importantly though, it's a symbol. Not just a symbol for Bethany Beach, assuring vacationers of their arrival and being displayed on tee-shirts and on logos of local businesses — but a symbol of the proud heritage of Nanticoke people as well. When the Alaskan red cedar finally wears, whether it be 50 years from now or 150, chances are most of us won't be around when the fourth Chief Little Owl statue goes up. But we can rest assured that the next statue will hold just as much meaning and history for the coming era as the the first three have for eras past, and that Bethany Beach will always be under the wise watch of their Nanticoke Chief.  Story by Tripp Colonell

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

THE FUTURE

‘Quiet Resort’

Keeping the

quiet:

Bethany must balance popularity with Mother Nature

ere at the edge of the Atlantic and the 21st century, Bethany Beachers like their town today. On the streets, they praise its beauty and safety. “I love the beach, I love it here. My family is here,” said Roger Knox, a sentiment that brings many vacationers to retire in Bethany.“I love all the resources we have around here.” Meanwhile, solid leadership could move it gently into the future. “I feel that the town is extremely well-run, and the people that run it are very responsible,” said Marie Cahill, broker/owner of Connor Jacobsen Realty. Bethany Beach is a dream vacation town with little room to grow, but the secret is out.Today’s new neighbors are yesterday’s vacationers. Meanwhile, Mother Nature is ever hinting at a new hurricane or nor’easter along the everchanging coast. While many Sussex County towns are preparing to expand, Bethany is returning to a comfortable pace.

THE FUTURE

In the summer of 2014, construction began on Bethany's newest hotel, Bethany Beach Ocean Suites, located right on the boardwalk. is image shows the southwestern side of the two-building business. Rendering courtesy of Bethany Beach Ocean Suites/ Burbage Properties

“e number one commitment should always be what the founding fathers wanted this place to be: a very family oriented, low-key community,” said vice-mayor Lew Killmer,“a place for people to enjoy a nice summer break or holiday.” “I hope to see just more of the same. Just wonderful days of beach time,” said resident Carol Psaros.“I just came oﬀ the beach. e ocean today is just glorious.” “We know we want to remain a quiet resort,” said Mayor Jack Gordon.“ere is not a big desire to grow because we do not have anywhere to grow.” In fact, maintaining the existing“character of the town will probably be as challenging …as would be any major overhaul of municipal land use or community design,” states the 2010 Town of Bethany Beach Comprehensive Plan. Low tax rates and easy living make Bethany a place where people want to vacation permanently, in retirement.

e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

See Future page 56

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Future continued from page 55

at’s why 46.5 percent of the population is 65 or older. at’s double Sussex County’s rate and triple Delaware’s rate. But that means Bethany needs all the services“required by many of our seniors as they get older and require more assistance,” said Killmer, although pricy land values mean those employees can’t always aﬀord to live in Bethany Beach. e challenge is“oﬀering these services and make it financially viable for the people who can provide those services to live in or near our community.” Doctors, emergency responders and retail clerks are all needed to keep Bethany flowing. “If they have to live too far away, they’ll go back,” Killmer said. So is there room left to build in Bethany? “No,” Michael Wilgus said simply.“ere are a couple parcels that are left, but you can count them on one hand …You can only build on what you have.” As president and broker for Wilgus Associates, he has watched Bethany housing his entire life. “ere are six or seven unimproved lots in town. e town is pretty well built out,” said Killmer. So that means people are making space on their own lots, even if that means demolishing the original structure for (typically) a much larger house or mansion.

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

THE FUTURE

East of Route 1, some cottages are 70 years old, but the interiors were renovated with modern conveniences. “e days of roughing it in the beach cottage are ending,” Wilgus said. Beach houses are no longer open-air cottages for people roughing it in the summer. People seek the modern basics, like air conditioning. ey also want dream home basics, like marble countertops and hardwood flooring. “People have some very, very nice homes. Beach cottages were nice in their day and still are, but people are looking to have modern conveniences now,” Wilgus said. Despite a 17.3 percent population increase in Bethany Beach from 903 to 1,060 between 2000 and 2010 (U.S. Census data), the growth is calming down. “Right now it’s at its peak,” Cahill said of the real estate market.“It will go up in inches rather than in yards, like it did before. “I think you’re going to all of the sudden see the prices go up, but I don’t think you’re going to see them go up as high or as quickly,” as the early 2000s, Cahill said, when the prices leapt and later crashed down just as fast. “It seems as though, when our national economy has had it ups and down, Bethany Beach has remained pretty steady,” Wilgus said.“From an evaluation standpoint, [there was some drop] in value from a less-than-stellar economic climate. It bounces back very quickly. … I see no reason why that would not continue. “e downs last briefly, and the ups continue quickly, and people continue to enjoy time here,” Wilgus said of the popular resort.“I think that draw will continue, and I think development will continue to accommodate them,” although,“You can only pack so many people into a town on Fourth of July.”



There is not a big desire to grow because we do not have anywhere to grow.”



—Mayor Jack Gordon

e influx “e Delaware Oﬃce of State Planning is projecting a 57-percent population increase in Sussex County by the

year 2040,” but this doesn’t reflect the part-time visitors, weekly visitors or daytrippers, said the Comprehensive Plan. Meanwhile, Bethany measures one square mile with no plans to annex surrounding land. e county handles beach communities to the north and south, and Ocean View is immediately west. If the National Guard ever shut down or decided it did not need the north Bethany facility, Bethany“would be interested in seeing if there’s an interest in annexing,” Killmer said. Otherwise, the seaside town is“about one square mile, and that’s what Bethany Beach is gonna be for a long time.” According to the Comprehensive Plan, Delaware Population consortium suggested that Bethany’s population could jump to 1763 in 2040. (Other models had the population mutating to 3572 by 2040, based on a more exceptional growth rate.) e Realtors noted that people are more frequently moving into their new homes than renting them out for extra income. If that trend continued, eventually most of the houses would be settled. But with relatively little space to build more housing units, even if people aren’t flooding Bethany town limits, they’re still coming to unincorporated lands. Massive communities, like Millville by the Sea, are slowly filling in after their economic downturn of a hiatus. And on a nice day, those people still find their way to the beach. During the summer months, the roads are highly stressed, due to the bonus seasonal traﬃc. Part of Sussex County is operating on a two-lane road system that meets local needs nine months of the year, but could stand to be a freeway system for three months. State Route 26 is moving things along. Although the Bethany Beach branch was completed around 2001, this east-west artery is being expanded to include a new turn See Future page 58

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

Future continued from page 57

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lane, bicycle lanes and sidewalks for about four miles inland.Traffic should flow more easily to the beach, despite being funneled so narrowly between inland bays and old homes. Meanwhile, the town isn’t creating anymore parking. “We use every resource that we can think of,” Killmer said.“We have agreements with the fire company, the Blue Crab restaurant, PNC Bank during off-hours, Disciples of Christ Church … all property sharing. ey own it, but we share the revenue. Other than those kinds of things, we don’t have much parking.” e town trolley alleviates residents’ traffic woes, charging a quarter to ride around town limits. “e purpose is not to generate an income, but to alleviate the parking pressure on Route 1. at’s a very unique service … owned by the town,” Killmer said. “It’s going to reach a point, if it hasn’t already, that it is what it is,” Wilgus mused.“I’ve never heard people say,‘I don’t like Bethany Beach because I can’t get there anymore, or it’s too crowded … but people manage to get here,” whether by walking, cycling or trolley.

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THE FUTURE

unteer Fire Company, the challenge of the future is membership. “Just keeping members is a challenge, keeping people who can do all the things in the fire service,” said BBVFC’s Joe Hopple. Most people are juggling jobs, family and volunteer service. “Getting people’s time is a big deal,” especially in a resort town largely made of retirees (who can certainly volunteer, but only so many people can grab an oxygen tank and run into a burning building.) e majority of members live outside of town, like in Ocean View. Like many of Bethany’s retail employees, many cannot aﬀord to live in the same town they serve. Volunteers are called upon“to do more things than ever,” like technical rescues, medical service and“things that don’t involve actual fire.” “When I first started, you never had calls [like] an elderly member fell out of bed and just needed help getting back up,” Hopple said. Remember the special events people enjoy in the Quiet Resort? For every Independence Day parade or 5K run, BBVFC is on patrol, with fire police directing traﬃc or an ambulance parking nearby. Somebody must be ready to run. BBVFC also spends more time on erroneous calls,

Today’s new neighbors are yesterday’s vacationers.

like automated fire or carbon monoxide drills (“Without that fire alarm you could see where tragedy could occur, but it increases our calls,” Hopple said). Plus, a“great group” of lifeguards protect swimmers, but what happens when they’re oﬀ-duty? Beachgoers still dive in after the 5 p.m. whistle, and accidents still occur after-hours. at’s when BBVFC comes in. BBVFC aims to keep itself financially straight, plus maintain a solid membership“to keep us responding at the level the public expects us to respond,” Hopple said “We continue to need the public’s support. We have three major missions [train, respond and fundraise]. e more help we have fundraising, the more time we have training and responding to calls.” e best way to help BBVFC is through donations.

Getting to the emergency While traﬃc congestion is a nuisance for most drivers, it can be lethal for emergency service. BBVFC can house five volunteers at a time in 36hour shifts to keep up with demand and avoid summertime beach traﬃc. Otherwise, volunteers must drive to the fire hall before suiting up. See Future page 60

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THE FUTURE

e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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“At least we can get one truck on the road fairly quickly,” Hopple said.“In wintertime, it’s no problem getting to the fire” because traﬃc is sparse. “My perception is they don’t battle their way up, they battle their way back,” said Alex Sydnor of Beebe Healthcare.“It’s the ride back that’s a problem. On the way to the hospital, they can have their lights on.” On the way, home, they’re probably picking up another call. Bethany ambulances often shuttle their patients north to Beebe Healthcare in Lewes. is is likely to continue for a while. Beebe had purchased 20 acres on Route 17 near Millville to build a health campus similar to Lewes. A new hospital would be a major capital project shelved around 2009 after the real estate market collapsed. Beebe compensated by expanding its other local services. So people can get imaging, lab work, rehab, primary physicians and more near Bethany. “We expanded services to nearly equal what we would have in a destination campus, without having to build a full campus,” said Sydnor, vice president of External Aﬀairs for Beebe.“ere are no immediate plans to develop that property. But we haven’t decided not to.” Although Lewes admissions have spiked this summer beyond typical seasonal rates, Beebe is assessing its five-year plans to determine what to do with that land now, like leasing it out. But a hospital may eventually come to the Quiet Resort’s rescue. “Millville and Bethany Beach is sort of far away from the hospital. Is a small 30-bed hospital necessary today? No, but it might be 30 years from now,” Sydnor said. “We’re continually monitoring how the community continues to grow and what the needs are there.”



All the stores that are on the beach are there because of one thing: the sand amenity.



—Tony Pratt, DNREC

Bethany is trying to make room for one hundred new rooms in the new oceanfront hotel, painstakingly eased through Town Council by developer Jack Burbage of Burbage Properties. Under construction in summer of 2014, it’s replacing Wilbur Powell’s Bethany Arms motel complex on both sides of Hollywood Street, one a block south of Garfield Parkway. Likely to open as a Marriott hotel in spring of 2015, the proposed name is still Bethany Beach Ocean Suites. Burbage said a“centerpiece hotel” could bring visitors, extend the tourist season and attract more business. “I think it’s going to be the centerpiece to the town and a tremendous asset to help the town during the summer months,” Burbage said.“I think Bethany is a beautiful summer town, a quiet resort, but the merchants are struggling to stay open because the season is so short. ey only have six good weeks” between mid-July and the start of school (after Labor Day locally, but in late August for many surrounding states). Still meeting Bethany’s low building height, the twobuilding hotel would include conference or wedding space, spa, restaurant and rooftop pool. at can bring oﬀ-season visitors to a traditional summer resort. “I think the hotel will really fill the shoulder months – the May and June, September, even October – that they haven’t had in the past. I think if the people are there, the merchants will [stay open],” Burbage said. He also said the higher dollar hotel will attract more boutique shops in town. “It’s not going to be cheap to stay in that hotel,” he said.“I think it’s going to step everything up a grade. I think it’s going to bring quality people … who have money to spend. I think we can get shops. e shops we have will be able to carry better merchandise and sell it.

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

THE FUTURE

“Right now, it’s not profitable for a lot of quality stores to be open in Bethany and make a profit, unless it was operator-owned,” Burbage said. “It’s a‘Catch-22,’” Killmer said.“If you don’t have anything open downstairs, they don’t come.You have to convince the businesses to stay open” so curious visitors will come. Yet Burbage believes a longer selling season could entice boutiques, such a South Moon Under clothing, also found in Ocean City and Rehoboth Beach. “We need [more] quality shops in town,” and a longer selling season for retail and restaurants, Burbage said. “When a downtown dies, the town dies. Not that the town is dying, but it will help make it stronger, make it better.” “We’re not getting a Kmart on the boardwalk,” Gordon noted.“It’s still gonna be boutique-type establishments … like a higher-end dress shop instead of a T-shirt shop.” Like many business owners, Burbage saw a quaint and family-friendly town, not a bar town, when he first bought property in 1982. “Parents can come and turn their kids loose and ride around town and they don’t have to worry,” he said. “I love Bethany. I think it will continue to improve

A new hotel can bring off-season visitors to a traditional summer resort.

and become more valuable,” Burbage said. “Right now, they’re coming, but there isn’t a hotel for them to stay in right on the beach. is is the premiere spot.” With many visitors vacationing on a local family member’s sofa, Burbage believes many travelers would prefer a hotel, and locals wouldn’t mind having their homes back for four to seven days. Burbage knows the plans were unpopular with some folks, but he felt the town’s 71-percent public approval in non-binding referendum showed general acceptance of the project. “I think it’s a little out of character for the town,” said former councilmember Margaret Young.“If that came to pass, I would like a hotel more in the character of Bethany. … I hope the town doesn’t get more commercial.” Physically, the hotel is cottage-like, with architecture reminiscent of the neighboring beach houses. “I was concerned about it changing the town, but I think it’s an important part of the town now,” which Betsy Clark of Japanesque believes will attract a“variety of people.” “I think it’s like in a mall, where you have an anchor store,” Killmer said.“I think the hotel will be the equivalent See Future page 62

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

Future continued from page 61

of an anchor for the downtown business community because there will be people coming in for weddings and conferences – and hopefully attract diﬀerent kinds of business, not just typical summertime business, like ice cream shops,” but year-round shops that will serve the surrounding community.”

Facing the sea Bethany’s biggest challenge is its greatest asset: water. “People have been living in Bethany Beach for thousands of years,” said resident and author Carol Psaros. But Mother Nature has been sculpting the East Coast for longer. Between 15,000 and 18,000 years ago, the East Coast met the continental shelf, about 50 miles out to sea, said Tony Pratt of Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. Before that, the Delmarva Peninsula was covered with water, as evidenced by shark and whale fossils found north of Smyrna. He called water a“chronic problem” for Delmarva. “at was okay for 15,985 years. But particularly in





The days of roughing it in the beach cottage are ending. —Michael Wilgus

the last 100 years, we have seen a lot of occupation of the coastline, and towns don’t move,” said Pratt, manager of the Shoreline & Waterway Management Section. “ere becomes less and less distance between infrastructure and the water. e way we have chosen to utilize it is to put sand back in front of land that has been lost.” Governments pay to dredge sand about two miles oﬀshore, which“gives us some time to be resistant.” Just six beach replenishment projects between 1989 and 2011 cost about $25 million to replace 4.5 million cubic yards of sand, states the comprehensive plan. e federal and state governments subsidize these projects, rebuilding beaches after major storms (or for routine maintenance) for several reasons. e sand is a buﬀer, beaten away by harsh waves so the roads and buildings remain. Plus, beaches are the highlight of Delaware’s tourism industry, bringing endless jobs and tax dollars to the state. “e coastal communities are a business driver,” Killmer said.“When people come here, not just from Delaware, but surrounding states, it’s a good source of revenue.” “It’s the economics of it,” Pratt said.“e towns provide a tremendous number of jobs in the state and recreSee Future page 65

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Future continued from page 62

ational opportunities.” ousands of homes rest behind those sand dunes, and most employees in a beach town have a job because of the beach. “All the stores that are on the beach are there because of one thing: the sand amenity. e stores on Route [26], plumbers, roofers, waitresses, chefs … all that’s dependent on people coming from somewhere else to visit our beach,” Pratt said.“ey’ll go someplace where that beach exists. “Keeping the beach in place, even though it’s expensive – the economic well-being in Delaware … is much greater and expensive than maintaining the beach in front.” Bethany can expect its beloved sands to be replenished every three years in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 50-year plan – if funding is available. “Every three years, the dredge is supposed to return to the coast,” Pratt said. However,“e money isn’t put aside for 50 years to do this.” e Army Corps must return to Congress each year to request available dollars to keep its 50-year promise to many towns. If there’s no money, there’s no work.



The more help we have fundraising, the more time we have training and responding to calls.



—Joe Hopple, Bethany Beach Volunteer Fire Company

But Bethany Beach has been lucky so far. Since the initial construction of the modern dune around 2007 (notoriously blocking the ocean view from the boardwalk), Bethany has gotten regular maintenance and was included in a massive $65-mllion emergency rebuilding fund after Superstorm Sandy in 2012, the brunt of which hit New Jersey and New York. Bethany returns to the same standard each time: a 16-foot-tall dune stretching 100 feet wide, overlooking 150 feet of dry beach. Pratt hopes the feds realize that the investment made at the Delaware beaches is a very good thing. “If the federal government or state government is unable to come up with funding, it could be a conversation in the future as how we continue to maintain these projects,” Pratt warned. Killmer suggested that coastal towns may someday partner together to fund their own dredging projects, in times of desperation, just like when several Route 1 areas partnered to pay for BBVFC ambulance service. “We hear rumblings that possibly we would not get the government support in replenishing the beaches in the future, but we have not heard anything oﬃcial on that, and there is nothing to indicate that things would be any See Future page 66

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

Future continued from page 65



diﬀerent,” said Gordon. ere are also environmental grumblings about dredging, from displaced sea life to the“drop-oﬀ,” which often leaves swimmers stepping straight down by several feet at the shore break. “Sandy taught us a big lesson to how extremely vulnerable we are to coastal storms. Fortunately, it did take a little jog to the north,” Pratt said.“at landing could have taken place in Ocean City … that’s not to say that won’t happen next month or 25 years from now.” “We can’t let down our country’s defenses,” Pratt said. “We think of threats from outside sources. We also have to think in terms of the natural disasters that make tremendous impacts.” Killmer compared it to California earthquakes or Midwest tornados, calling it natural phenomena. And afterward, people help each other rebuild, rather than pointing fingers at someone for building on the fault line. “I was on the Sea Level Rise Committee,” Killmer said.“ere’s only three things you can do.You can protect it, you can raise it, or you can move it. “With the new FEMA flood plain map for Bethany

Is a small 30-bed hospital necessary today? No, but it might be 30 years from now.

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—Alex Sydnor, Beebe Healthcare

Beach coming up, the town will be 80 percent in the flood plain, versus 50 percent in the flood plain. So the mortgage company might require you to get flood insurance,” Killmer said. e National Flood Insurance Program has provided subsidized insurance to coastal areas, but as it attempts to make up for money lost in protecting those vulnerable areas, homeowners will face much higher premiums in the coming years. “It will get to a point where people will not build or rebuild because it’s too costly to, or there might not be homeowners insurance available, meaning they can’t get a mortgage [unless they’re wealthy enough to pay in cash]. I think it’s a self-correcting mechanism over time,” Killmer said. Meanwhile, Bethany is treading its own personal flooding problem. A good rainstorm will overwhelm the Loop Canal in northeast Bethany, where roads are routinely blocked oﬀ for flooding. It’s just another challenge of having streets, like Pennsylvania Avenue, which are barely above mean high tide on a good day. “I’m hoping we can deal with global warming and anything the weather would bring us. I think that’s the biggest challenge,” said Psaros. “e reason we have a town of Bethany is because of

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

THE FUTURE

the ocean and the beach,” said Clark.“If we lose that beach…”

Morphing in place “I think you’ll see Bethany will continue to grow and change within itself, morph within itself,” said Burbage.“It will never be an Ocean City or a Rehoboth, and we do not want it to be that. It will always be a quiet resort that will be a classier resort in time.” Ultimately the decisions are made by whomever shows up, and Bethany hopes to continue utilizing its best resource: the people, from those with a vision to the retirees who volunteer time and knowledge. “I see nothing but positive things for Bethany in the future,” Killmer said.“We have really a fantastic collection of retired people who’ve had outstanding positions in many industries, from banking to CPAs to company presidents – you name it. We have this unbelievable resource of talent … individuals are gracious to oﬀer their intellect and expertise in service in committees in town.” Young encouraged residents to keep their beloved Bethany on track. “Take notice of, and pay attention to, proposed changes in the town, and if you don’t like it, make your

THE FUTURE

Bethany hopes to continue utilizing its best resource: the people.

voice heard,” Young said.“Go tell the rest of the town. Go tell the newspaper. Go tell the town manager.You have to tell somebody in the position … what your problem is.” At Delaware Seashore State Park, Doug Long thinks people do care. “I think the secret is out what we know as the Quiet Resorts. I’m sure it’s not so quiet anymore,” said the park superintendent.“e good news is I think all the users today, they’re very protective of their parks and town.” When the park hosted a wintertime public meeting about park amenities, 80 people attended to make sure DSSP would“not screw it up,” Long joked. “As far as any grandiose plan into the future,” Gordon said,“we have nothing in mind apart from remaining the Quiet Resort and a nice beach.” “e way things are taken care of in this town by the town is amazing,” said Cahill.“e beautification that they’ve done … ey’re constantly upgrading. ey are not letting this town suﬀer in any way shape or form.” “I do think Bethany has a future,” Clark said.“It already is growing and changing, but it’s just with the times. Make the main street a little more interesting, so I still see that there’s going to be growth, but only in a good way. It has to [in order to survive].”  Story by Laura Walter

e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware

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e Story of Bethany Beach, Delaware