Delaware Cape Region History in Photographs

Delaware Cape Region History in Photographs, published every Tuesday in the Cape Gazette, features historical photos from Delaware's Cape Region - particularly - and from throughout Sussex County and Delaware generally.

Readers are invited to submit photos of historic interest. They can be mailed to the Cape Gazette at PO Box 213, Lewes, DE 19958, or via email to newsroom@capegazette.com.

Rehoboth Beach Saving Station in Dewey Beach

17 hours ago
The original life-saving station at the end of Dagsworthy Street in Dewey Beach was commissioned in...

Before Grove Park, there was Shaw Park

1 week ago
Grove Park in Rehoboth Beach is meeting place for people of all ages, whether at the children’s...

White House Beach develops in Long Neck

2 weeks ago
The growth of the Long Neck area has been incredible over the last few decades. In 1970, White...

A familiar building in downtown Millsboro

3 weeks ago
Anyone who’s driven through downtown Millsboro should recognize this building at the corner of Main...

Broadkiln School served students near Milton

4 weeks ago
Students in the Cape Henlopen School district will head back to school Wednesday, Sept. 6. Many...

Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk 100 years ago

1 month ago
This is what the east end of Rehoboth Avenue in Rehoboth Beach looked like a century ago. This...

Walsmith’s opens in Rehoboth in 1948

1 month ago
Hundreds, if not thousands, of businesses have operated on Rehoboth Avenue in Rehoboth Beach since...

Henlopen Motor Lodge opens in 1959

1 month ago
The Henlopen Motor Lodge once operated in Rehoboth Beach next to the Henlopen Hotel. The lodge...

Railroad crossing at Cool Spring in 1924

1 month ago
There has been a lot of talk in recent years about the former railroad crossing at Route 9 in Cool...

Sailing to Lewes in the 1940s

2 months ago
Although the Savannah Road bridge is different, this Lewes background should look familiar to...

Legacy lives on at Delaware State Fair

2 months ago
The 2023 edition of the Delaware State Fair began July 20 and runs through Saturday, July 29, in...

Dolly’s Bait & Tackle Shop at Love Creek

2 months ago
A letter to the editor penned by Dr. James H. VanSciver appeared in the July 14 edition. In the...

Downtown Lewes in the 1930s

2 months ago
Just a week ago, this stretch of Second Street in downtown Lewes was filled with people of all ages...

Lewes celebrates Fourth of July in 1993

3 months ago
The Cape Gazette hit newsstands on Memorial Day weekend in 1993. And since that time, our staff has...

Replacing the Rehoboth Boardwalk in the 1980s

3 months ago
A lot of work goes into making the Rehoboth Boardwalk one of the premier oceanfront attractions on...

Rehoboth-Indian Beach Club thrived before WWII

3 months ago
Rehoboth-Indian Beach Club was once a popular destination for the Delaware elite in the southern...

Fort Miles chapel still stands today

3 months ago
In its hey day, Fort Miles in today’s Cape Henlopen State Park had just about everything a solider...

Memories of Rehoboth Beach grande dames live on

3 months ago
“An Early Rehoboth Love Story,” a local history lecture delivered Jan. 12 at the Boardwalk Plaza...

Arthur Morris’ Rexall Drugs store in Lewes

3 months ago
If these buildings look familiar, it’s because they’re still standing on Second Street in Lewes...

Lewes Beach in 1970

4 months ago
Lewes Beach is quite a bit different today than it was in this 1970 photograph. Spanning from Iowa...

Rehoboth’s minor league baseball team

4 months ago
Rehoboth Beach had a low-level minor league baseball team for three years in the late 1940s,...

Dallin’s images offer peek into early 20th century

4 months ago
The aerial photographs of pilot J. Victor Dallin have been featured in the pages of the Cape...

German U-boat surrenders in Delaware Bay

4 months ago
The eyes of the country were on Fort Miles in May 1945 when a German U-boat carrying 61 officers...

Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk in the 1930s

5 months ago
The sesquicentennial of Rehoboth Beach’s origins was May 1, the day in 1873 that a lot selection...

Camp bugler calls the troops of Fort Miles

5 months ago
That’s quite a bugle. This undated image shows the camp bugler at Fort Miles during World War II...

Milton Theatre in June 1956

5 months ago
The Milton Theatre unveiled its brand-new balcony April 11 after more than a year of construction...

Cape Henlopen Lighthouse fell 97 years ago

5 months ago
On April 13, 1926, the Cape Henlopen Lighthouse fell into the Atlantic Ocean. Built in 1765, it was...

Rehoboth Beach’s longtime Easter tradition

5 months ago
In what looks like a scene from the Polar Bear Plunge, this photograph from the 1950s shows a...

A view of downtown Milton in 1957

6 months ago
While the businesses have changed, the look of Union Street in downtown hasn’t changed much since...

Future Homemakers of America at Lewes High in 1963

6 months ago
Things have changed a lot in the last 60 years. At Lewes High School in 1963, a group of young...

Cape Henlopen school board in 1972

6 months ago
There will be an election this year for the Cape Henlopen School District Board of Education. We...

Lewes High School girls’ basketball 1935-36

6 months ago
The Cape Henlopen High School girls’ basketball team is fighting for a state championship, after...

The long history of the Cannonball House

7 months ago
The historic Cannonball House in Lewes has been in the news recently after it was discovered a...

Sussex headquarters was once a post office

7 months ago
Before becoming the home of the Sussex County government, the building at 2 The Circle in...

Lloyd’s Market a staple of Lewes since 1971

7 months ago
There are few things synonymous with Lewes, but Lloyd’s Market is certainly one of them. Lloyd and...

Blue Diamond railroad lasts only six months

7 months ago
A Cape Gazette subscriber recently shared this historical item showing a train schedule effective...

Rehoboth’s lighthouse replica has long history

8 months ago
Millions of people have been welcomed to Rehoboth Beach by the Cape Henlopen Lighthouse replica...

Milton Masonic lodge dates back to 19th century

8 months ago
If someone from the late 1800s was transported to Milton in 2023, they might see a familiar...

Lewes Union School once stood on Savannah Road

8 months ago
If still in existence today, the Lewes Union School would stand on Savannah Road about where Beebe...

Houston-White Co. thrived in Millsboro

8 months ago
Houston-White Co. was a mill and basket company founded in the late 19th century that thrived in...

Unique look at Second Street in the 1940s

8 months ago
Thousands of people have wandered through the St. Peter’s Episcopal Church cemetery on Second...

Broadkill Beach in the 1970s

9 months ago
Broadkill Beach is an unincorporated beach community north of Lewes and east of Milton. For many,...

Lewes Polar Bears plunge into new millennium

9 months ago
As is tradition, a group of polar bears will jump into the ocean Jan. 1 at Cape Henlopen State Park...

Rehoboth Avenue bridge over the canal 60 years ago

9 months ago
The front page story of the Dec. 23 edition focused on the dissolution of the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal...

Celebrating Christmas in Rehoboth Beach

9 months ago
A Christmas tree at The Bandstand in Rehoboth Beach is a holiday tradition. This photograph appears...

Spreading Christmas cheer to Delaware’s troops

9 months ago
The entire country participated in the war effort during World War II, including providing...

Blue Moon Restaurant in Lewes in 1941

9 months ago
Before the Blue Moon on Baltimore Avenue in Rehoboth Beach, there was the Blue Moon Restaurant on...

Getting groceries at the Rehoboth A&P in 1960

9 months ago
Many longtime Cape Region locals will remember the A&P grocery store on the Forgotten Mile...

Camp Henlopen before establishment of Fort Miles

10 months ago
A few years before Fort Miles was established at today’s Cape Henlopen State Park, the U.S...

A very different Five Points

10 months ago
The front page of our Nov. 18 edition featured a story about the impending demolition of the Bests...

Aerial look at Lewes in 1939

10 months ago
Lewes is a town steeped in history, and some of that history is documented in this 1939 aerial...

Return Day in 1960

10 months ago
There have been two stories about Return Day in recent editions of the Cape Gazette – one in the...

Rehoboth train on the Avenue in 1925

11 months ago
The Rehoboth Beach Museum recently held a two-part lecture called, “Ferries, Trains, and...

Hotel Rodney hasn’t changed much in 96 years

11 months ago
If you stood on Second Street in Lewes across from St. Peter’s Episcopal Church today and looked at...

Blood clinic at Fort Miles gym

11 months ago
A few weeks ago, we shared a photograph taken before a 1940s boxing match at the Fort Miles gym. In...

Lewes School in the 1920s

11 months ago
Students moved into Lewes Elementary School in April, paving the way for Richard A. Shields...

Cape Henlopen State Park bathhouse under construction

1 year ago
Cape Henlopen State Park has been in the news recently, as state officials consider allowing a...

Boxing at Fort Miles in the 1940s

1 year ago
Athletic activities relieved stress and kept the men of Fort Miles in shape. In addition to boxing...

Silver Lake in Rehoboth, before fountains

1 year ago
Silver Lake in Rehoboth Beach has been mentioned a few articles in the Cape Gazette recently. The...

Thomas Tracy wrecks in Rehoboth Sept. 14, 1944

1 year ago
The 250-foot freighter Thomas Tracy was blown ashore at Brooklyn Avenue in Rehoboth Beach Sept. 14...