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Homestead Campground hosts ribbon-cutting ceremony

Prettymans sell property after 40 years
June 23, 2014

The Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony May 30 for Homestead Campground. Members of the chamber’s Meet & Greet Committee were present to welcome Homestead Campground to the organization.

After nearly 40 years of ownership and management by Bill and Irma Prettyman, Homestead Campground was recently sold to another 40-year-old Delaware organization. Located at 25165 Prettyman Road in Georgetown since 1974, the campground has established a reputation on the camping circuit as a well-maintained rural family campground that is close enough to all major resort-area activities.

Bill Prettyman’s Sussex County family roots trace back to the late 17th century, when the earliest Prettyman descendants settled along Prettyman Road, where Bill and Irma still reside.  As lifelong Sussex County farmers, Bill and Irma began offering camping sites to the general public in 1974 as an economical way to subsidize the farming business. Over the past four decades, the Prettymans expanded the campground numerous times due to the overall growth in popularity of the camping industry along with the increasing amount of seasonal campers coming to eastern Sussex County. As a result of their personal touch, the Prettymans created an intimate and rural family campground oasis that has had numerous families loyally returning each season.

The Prettymans, both in their early 80s, decided that it was time to sell the property, and their goal was to find a suitable buyer interested in continuing to operate the campground in the same manner. After a brief search, the property was purchased by Investor’s Realty Inc., a second-generation, Delaware-based family business. Ironically, Investors Realty Inc. was also founded in 1974 by the Strine family, the same year the Prettymans founded Homestead Campground. It was important to the Prettymans that the property was sold to a local company which also had roots in Delaware.

Investors Realty Inc. owns and operates a portfolio of manufactured home communities throughout Delaware and Pennsylvania. The owners plan to continue to operate the property as a seasonal campground and make improvements each year that will attract more campers to eastern Sussex County.

Homestead Campground consists of 358 sites with numerous amenities including two pools, a community center, a splash pad, a newly featured dog park, basketball courts, corn hole games, an arcade and a community center. Homestead offers seasonal, nightly and weekly camping for all types of camping equipment and also offers cabin accommodations. Homestead Campground is one of three nationally recognized Good Sam Club member parks located in Delaware and recently scored 8.5-9-9.5 (out of 10) ratings by the Good Sam RV Travel Guide & Campground Directory. For more information or to make a reservation, visit www.i-realty.com/homestead or call 302-684-4278.

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