Big Talk Delmarva

07/25/2022

09/12/2021

Dogfish Head will ring in fall with its inaugural Harvest Festival, to be held from 1 to 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 16, at the Milton brewery and tasting room. Harvest Festival is a collaboration between Dogfish Head and Secretly Group, a family of...

09/12/2021

08/02/2021

WAY BACK MACHINE: A Fenwick Island Birthday!
This light went on for the first time 162 years ago today--on Aug. 1, 1859. The government had purchased land for the lighthouse the year before. As there was nothing else out there, the land's owner--a woman named Mary Hall--agreed to sell it for just $50.

This photo is from 1891. Still nothing around out there! Development wouldn't come to Fenwick in any serious way until well into the 20th century.

At the time this lighthouse was built, the nearest beacon to the south was 60 miles away, on Assateague Island. Plus, the shoals off Fenwick could cause trouble in bad weather. Here is a description of the thinking involved from the 1855 "Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board:"

"A light-house in the vicinity of Fenwick’s island will serve to guide vessels from the southern ports, bound into the Delaware, and also the great coasting trade with the same or a more northern destination. Fenwick’s Island shoal is a very dangerous one for those, and also in some degree for the European trade of Philadelphia. It is very common for ships coming from the eastward to fall in with the coast considerably to the southward of Cape Henlopen, and in thick weather a light on Fenwick’s island would serve to ascertain their position when the Henlopen light was invisible."

I came across this photo and the quote on the Fenwick beacon page of the website Lighthouse Friends:
https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=452

07/28/2021

Something to think about!

GEORGETOWN, Del. - Carl M. Freeman Companies wants to build a hotel and a restaurant along Route 54. The developers say their project would make significant infrastructure improvements, but Planning and Zoning previously denied the application. Neighbors in the Fenwick Island area filled Sussex Coun...

05/05/2021

Summer Boardwalk bicycle hours take effect on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and will be different than in previous years. Bicycles will be allowed on the Boardwalk throughout the tourism season from 2:00 a.m. to noon. Riding hours previously stopped at 11:00 a.m. Coinciding with the change to bicycle hours, the tram will begin operations one hour later at noon. For more news about bicycle hours and the tram, watch the Boardwalk Breakdown in the latest episode of "This Week in Ocean City." Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmgJSbSy6YM

04/20/2021

OCEAN CITY – A popular home show is returning to Ocean City this weekend with new exhibits and an added art and craft fair. The 37th Annual Home, Condo

04/20/2021

Its About Time...

For the past three Christmas seasons, Rehoboth Beach has been in a public back-and-forth with the local Knights of Columbus about the placement of a nativity scene on city property – specifically the Bandstand. It looks like Christmas 2021 should be...

04/06/2021

The Fenwick Island Town Council has opted to cancel the town’s annual beach bonfire for the second year in a row, citing concerns about social-distancing enforcement and other concerns related