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.

Queen Anne’s Railroad connected Milton with big cities

1 year ago
In February 1885, the Delaware Legislature authorized the Queen Anne's Railroad, a Maryland...

Ames thrived outside Rehoboth for decades

1 year ago
The lone remnant of the Ames department store outside Rehoboth Beach is Ames Drive in the Rehoboth...

Rehoboth lighthouse razed, rebuilt in 1996

1 year ago
The Cape Henlopen Lighthouse replica in the center of the Rehoboth Avenue roundabout has...

Cape Henlopen Lighthouse stands in 1926

1 year ago
Ninety-eight years ago April 13, the iconic Cape Henlopen Lighthouse fell from its perch on top of...

Zion Methodist Church burns near Milton in 1943

1 year ago
Just an hour before weekly Sunday service Oct. 10, 1943, Zion Methodist Church two miles east of...

Lewes High School baseball, softball takes field in...

1 year ago
Major League Baseball teams will take the field across the country to kick off the 2024 season this...

Maull House dates back to 18th century

1 year ago
The Maull House on Pilottown Road in Lewes is believed to have been built by Samuel Paynter, a...

First Street Station rises in Rehoboth

1 year ago
First Street Station has been a fixture in Rehoboth Beach since opening in 1997. Groundbreaking for...

Wyatt’s grocery store in Lewes

1 year ago
Walter Wyatt owned and operated a store at 123 Second St. in Lewes for a long time in the early to...

Nassau School served students until 1965

1 year ago
The Nassau School was built in 1922 near the current-day Five Points intersection outside Lewes. It...

William C. Jason High School served Black students

1 year ago
William C. Jason Comprehensive High School in Georgetown served the Black students of Sussex County...

St. Paul Church once thrived for African American...

1 year ago
In 1882, Charles Dunning Sr. and Charles Steward Sr. met with a group of inspired Christians and...

Jolly Jills parade draws big crowds to Lewes

1 year ago
The Jolly Jills Social Club, in conjunction with Lewes Junior High and William C. Jason...

UD wind turbine under construction in 2010

1 year ago
Offshore wind is a highly debated topic in the Cape Region right now. However, in the months...

Construction of Roosevelt Inlet’s jetties

1 year ago
This 1994 aerial photograph shows construction of the jetties at Roosevelt Inlet in Lewes...

Lewes theater thrived in mid-20th century

1 year ago
Rehoboth Beach had its share of movie theaters over the years, but many don’t know Lewes also had...

Route 1 before proliferation of shopping centers

1 year ago
This aerial photograph from the early 1990s shows Midway Shopping Center surrounded by open fields...

Cape Henlopen High School in 2007

1 year ago
The has been a lot of talk recently about the continued growth of the Cape Henlopen School District...

Dwight Howard wows at Slam Dunk 20 years ago

1 year ago
In its heyday, Slam Dunk to the Beach drew the very best of high school basketball talent. And...

Kathie Lee lights up the Rehoboth Christmas tree

1 year ago
Rehoboth Beach was center stage in 1996 when Kathie Lee Gifford brought a crew from her show, “Live...

Dewey Beach landmark transforms on Route 1

1 year ago
The historic Walsh property at the corner of Route 1 and Saulsbury Street in Dewey Beach is...

Five Points in the 1990s

1 year ago
These aerial photographs show the Five Points intersection near Lewes in 1994 and 1997. So much has...

Rehoboth Avenue Christmas scene of yesteryear

1 year ago
Now that Thanksgiving has passed, we are firmly in the holiday season. This holiday scene shows...

Queen Anne Pier in early 20th Century Lewes

1 year ago
The Queen Anne Railroad was formed in 1894 to connect passengers from Baltimore, Md., to Cape May,...

Welcome to Lewes Beach

1 year ago
Lewes is embroiled in controversy two years after city officials named the two guarded beaches –...

Rehoboth water fountain in the mid-20th century

1 year ago
For nearly a century, a water fountain has stood at the east end of Rehoboth Avenue in Rehoboth...

Oak Orchard was the place to be on Big Thursday

1 year ago
Oak Orchard has been in the news lately, as a developer is proposing to build 123 homes on a 57-...

Bird’s-eye view of early 20th century Lewes

1 year ago
This is most likely the second-earliest bird’s-eye view of Lewes ever made, according to the book...

Breaking ground for outlet shopping

1 year ago
It’s hard to imagine that the stretch of Route 1 between Lewes and Rehoboth Beach was once mostly...

Historic map shows lots for sale in Rehoboth Heights

1 year ago
In the 1920s, Rehoboth Beach was an up-and-coming community along Delaware’s coast. Founded as a...

Rehoboth Beach Saving Station in Dewey Beach

1 year 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 year 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

1 year 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

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

Broadkiln School served students near Milton

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

Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk 100 years ago

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

Henlopen Motor Lodge opens in 1959

1 year 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 year 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

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

Legacy lives on at Delaware State Fair

1 year 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

1 year 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

1 year 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

1 year 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

1 year 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

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

Fort Miles chapel still stands today

2 years 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

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

Arthur Morris’ Rexall Drugs store in Lewes

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

Lewes Beach in 1970

2 years 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

2 years 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

2 years 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

2 years 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

2 years 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

2 years 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

2 years 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

2 years 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

2 years 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

2 years 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

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