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| Author | Topic: News Journal - Rehoboth Beach Brief History - Fun Facts |
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Bridget Touhey (Moderator) |
posted 5/17/07 2:20 PM
Rehoboth Beach Seaside retreat has come a long way - too far, some say - from its religious origins The News Journal Sometimes Delawareans forget how magical Rehoboth Beach is, distracted perhaps by the congested road to the sea. But look at the “Nation's Summer Capital” through the eyes of a first-time visitor. First, there’s the replica of the Cape Henlopen Lighthouse as you drive around the traffic circle, the wide boulevard that is Rehoboth Avenue, the gazebo bandstand ... and then, the ocean -- that stretch of blue green that trails off forever into the horizon. Then there are the man-made landmarks: the gigantic orange Dolle's sign; the Women's Christian Temperance Union water fountain at the boardwalk end of Rehoboth Avenue and Funland with it’s carousel and bumper cars. “My fear,” said Mayor Samuel Cooper, is that Rehoboth “will be ordinary, commonplace ... if too many people want to enjoy it ... it truly wouldn't be the same anymore.” • • • The Rev. Robert W. Todd was worn out in the summer of 1872 after weeks of camp meeting services in Wilmington. So the Methodist pastor retreated to the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting on the New Jersey shore. Upon returning to Wilmington, he told his flock about his revival in a sermon using the words: “And the sea hath spoken.” In the weeks that followed, Todd was consumed with the idea of a religious retreat by the sea. The Rehoboth Beach Camp Meeting Association, created by the Methodist Episcopal Church, purchased 400 acres in what is now central Rehoboth Beach for just under $10,000. Lots were laid out to form a fan shape, to give all landowners a view of the sea. The first camp meeting started in the summer of 1873. Worshippers built humble, framed cottages that were called “tents,” starting in the area that is now called The Grove. “It only lasted about eight years,” said Irene Simpler, volunteer curator at the Anna Hazzard Museum. “Some 14 years later, they tried to revive the camp meeting.” That first year, dozens of lots were sold. “The bylaws are so interesting to read because they are so rigid,” Simpler said. Anyone within a mile was supposed to abide by the rules. The very first hotel was the Douglass House in what is now Dewey Beach.” Douglass House was just outside the mile limit, meaning patrons could consume alcoholic beverages, unlike those staying in Rehoboth. • • • Around 1915, when Jack Salin's family bought a couple of lots on Rehoboth's Henlopen Avenue, there were two primary ways to get to the city from their family home on 14th Street in Washington, D.C. The driving route went north from Washington to Elkton, Md., then south. Salin, 86, said you would stop in Middletown for the night and finish the drive the following day. It was a two-day journey in a Model-T Ford, with many stops to change and repair flat tires. Or, travelers could take the train and ferry. The train ride, with all the stops, was about 2 1/2 or 3 hours, about the same time it takes now to drive a car from the east side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Rehoboth, he said. In those pre-bridge days, Rehoboth had a year-round population of about 300 people. Today, the year-round population is nearly 1,500. During the summer, it swells to 25,000 just within the city limits and several times that in the greater Rehoboth area. To local businessman Jay Stein, it was the construction of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which opened July 30, 1952, and then the addition of a second span, which opened June 28, 1973, that really brought change - and an influx of people - to Rehoboth Beach. But when Stein was young, the city bustled just three months out of the year -- in June, July and August. Come Labor Day, many of the stores along Rehoboth Avenue closed for the season. Rehoboth has become much more of a year-round community. Special events like the Halloween themed Sea Witch Festival in late October, the Film and Jazz festivals and Chocolate Festival all draw a crowd of out-of-town, weekend visitors. “When I moved here . in the wintertime we were lucky to see one car on the road,” said Betty Mann-Beebe, owner of Mann-Moore, a local real estate company. Real estate may be one of the best indicators of what is happening in Rehoboth. In 1970, an oceanfront town house just north of Rehoboth Beach sold for $59,000. Now, $1 million properties are common. Ones along the oceanfront fetch several million. Mann-Beebe said she believes people are coming to the area because of the beach, the water and the fact that there is so much to do. In real estate, “everything is location, location, location.” http://www.BridgetAtTheBeach.com View my website for more Beach Info |
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Bridget Touhey (Moderator) |
posted 5/17/07 2:24 PM
Rehoboth Beach facts and figures Pronunciation: : Re-HOE-beth. Watch your spelling. Newcomers often spell it RehoBETH rather than the correct RehoBOTH. Population: The U.S. Census Bureau counted 1,495 people in Rehoboth Beach last year. There are far more year-round residents in the surrounding area thanks to a booming retirement housing market. The median age is 57. Geography: Rehoboth is unique among Delaware's ocean resorts because it is not on a barrier island. Elevation ranges from 7 feet above sea level at the beach to 22 feet near the entrance to the city. Commercial history: From the start, tourism was a big part of Rehoboth commerce. The first boardwalk - 8-foot, rough-cut oak slabs - was laid across the sand in 1873. In 1880, Charles S. Horn Sr. bought two building lots and in 1882 built a pier and pavilion. He sold souvenirs and eventually opened a movie theater in the city. The pier washed away during a hurricane in 1914. During Prohibition, rumrunners anchored or drifted off the beach outside the three-mile limit. At night, they would "run" for shore - sometimes dumping cargo if they thought they would be caught. Notable residents: The late Mary Wilson Thompson, a Wilmington socialite and anti-suffragette who built a cottage of her own design in Rehoboth in the late 1920s, is credited with the first mosquito-control efforts. The late Ethel P.B. Leach, noted artist and illustrator, helped establish Rehoboth as a summer artist colony. Helpful tip: Be certain to feed the parking meters. The city brings in about $1 million a year in meter revenue. You haven't really experienced Rehoboth Beach until you have: • Eat a Nic-o-Boli at Nicola Pizza, grab a slice of pizza at Grotto, try the fries at Thrashers and have an ice cream at Royal Treat. • Walk off some of the food with a stroll down the mile-long boardwalk. • Have your picture taken in front of Dolle's with that big orange sign in the background and buy some caramel popcorn while you are there. • Take a drink from the Women's Christian Temperance Union fountain at the boardwalk end of Rehoboth Avenue. http://www.BridgetAtTheBeach.com View my website for more Beach Info |
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