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.

A different brand of presidential inauguration...

4 years ago
Delaware and most other states in the nation joined in the festive parade on Jan. 21, 1957, when...

Aerial view of Rehoboth Beach showing rebuilt Dolle...

4 years ago
Last week’s historic photo showed damage from the March 1962 nor’easter that flattened the Dolle’s...

Storm of March 1962 destroyed the Dolle’s structure...

4 years ago
The infamous northeast storm of March 1962, with its strong winds and exceptionally high tides,...

A happy holiday message from a Delaware soldier in...

4 years ago
During the Vietnam war, Delaware Morning News journalist Nancy Lynch encouraged soldiers serving...

Delaware has seen tough winters in the past

4 years ago
Delaware is hardly known for its severe winters, but arctic conditions occasionally grip the state...

An inexpensive upstate winter getaway in mid-20th...

4 years ago
The Francis Drake Motel was located at the intersection of Routes 13 and 40, a few miles south of...

Christmas postcard from Beebe Hospital in 1928

4 years ago
With Christmas lights starting to show up throughout Delaware’s Cape Region, there’s no doubt that...

Farm at Carpenter’s Corner southeast of Lewes

4 years ago
This photograph from the late 1970s shows the farm buildings at Carpenter’s Corner southeast of...

Then as now, public health important in Delaware

4 years ago
At the Kent and Sussex Fair in Harrington in July 1932, the Delaware Board of Public Health set up...

Packing Sussex County apples for market in 1923

4 years ago
Almost all of Delaware’s 2020 apples have been picked, sold, stored and shipped as our unseasonably...

Enjoying the ox roast at mid-20th century Return Day

4 years ago
This picture postcard from the mid-20th century shows a Return Day throng crowded around the ox...

Ferrying across the Chesapeake to get to the beach

4 years ago
Gary Myers of Rehoboth Beach sent this photo in recently showing vehicles in 1952 getting off the...

Piling harvested Sussex pumpkins for canning in 1923

4 years ago
This photograph from Oct. 20, 1923, shows pumpkins piled on the grounds of the H.P. Cannon cannery...

It’s apple-picking season in Delaware

4 years ago
An old bluegrass song reminds us: “Peaches ripen in the summertime, apples ripen in the fall; if I...

Lewes High’s rifle club in 1967

4 years ago
Becky Carney sent this page from the 1967 Lewes High School yearbook after seeing a column in the...

South end of Rehoboth’s Boardwalk in 1957

4 years ago
Rehoboth Beach resident Gary Myers sent through an old photograph recently from his family archives...

Mid-1900s volleyball team in Sussex County

4 years ago
Summer has switched to fall. Schools are back in modified session due to COVID-19. Sports are now...

Wet Septembers can still bring plenty of mosquitos

4 years ago
In a state as wet as Delaware, mosquitos pose a constant threat, especially in active hurricane...

When Labor Day marked the end of Rehoboth’s summer...

4 years ago
This postcard from the middle of the 1900s captures the sense at that time of Labor Day’s...

Highway policing in Delaware à la 1931

4 years ago
Policing of the highways in Delaware looked a lot different in 1931 than it does today. This...

Lewes High School as it appeared in the 1940s

4 years ago
This postcard was mailed in 1946 and shows the Lewes School on Savannah Road as it appeared at that...

Another public health initiative - mosquito ditches

4 years ago
This photograph from 1945 shows a recently maintained Delaware Mosquito Control ditch dug to help...

Delaware State Fair back in 1914

4 years ago
We’ve just been through the Delaware State Fair season which is also typically the hottest time of...

An Amish crop of soybeans after wheat back in 1985

4 years ago
This photograph from 1985 shows an Amish farm near Dover in Kent County with a crop of soybeans...

A far-less-developed Fenwick Island from mid-20th...

4 years ago
This picture postcard from the mid-20th century shows a far less developed and commercial Fenwick...

Tomato season then and now in Sussex County

4 years ago
Fresh garden tomatoes are coming on strong now in Sussex County. In the first half of the 20th...

Main Street in Bridgeville in the late 1800s

5 years ago
This antique picture postcard from the late 1800s shows Main Street in downtown Bridgeville on the...

One of Rehoboth’s early amusement parks

5 years ago
Neal “Joe” Boyle donated an extensive collection of Delaware postcards to the Delaware Public...

Public Health in Millsboro in the middle of the 20th...

5 years ago
Public health, with a focus on nutrition, was on display during a Millsboro elementary first grade...

Rehoboth’s Belhaven Hotel in a former era

5 years ago
Plans for a new Belhaven Hotel in Rehoboth Beach at the corner of Boardwalk and Rehoboth Avenue are...
CORRECTION

A formal and all-female graduation in 19th century...

5 years ago
Colleen Herman of Millsboro sent the following letter after publication of this historic photo...

From a time when strawberries reigned large in Sussex

5 years ago
This photograph from Delaware’s Department of Agriculture shows the streets of Selbyville crowded...

Delaware National Guard at Johnson’s 1965 inauguration

5 years ago
This photograph from the Delaware Economic Development Office archives shows members of Delaware’s...

Ticonderoga passes beneath Delaware Memorial Bridge...

5 years ago
This photograph from 1955 shows the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Ticonderoga passing beneath the...

Rehoboth’s bandstand a rallying place for many decades

5 years ago
When the Reopen Delaware organization took its activism to the bandstand in Rehoboth Beach last...

Summer fun at Camp Barnes in 1954

5 years ago
This photo from 1954 shows campers at Camp Barnes, on Miller Creek near Frankford, enjoying...

Rehoboth Drawbridge and Grove Park in March 1970

5 years ago
Lloyd Teitsworth and Dee Andrews made this aerial photograph over Rehoboth Beach in March of 1970...

Delaware turkey production in the 1930s

5 years ago
Members of the extended Loockerman family have been involved in poultry production for many years...

Why was 1918 so momentous here and everywhere?

5 years ago
In early April 1918 - 102 years ago and the same year as the end of World War I and the deadly...

Breakwater Quarantine facilities converted to U.S....

5 years ago
These buildings, on Delaware Bay-front in Lewes, stood near what is now the Cape Henlopen State...

Personal protection equipment used by sailors in...

5 years ago
These sailors donned personal protection face masks in 1918 with a worldwide influenza epidemic...

Rehoboth Beach and public health more than one...

5 years ago
This postcard mailed in 1908 shows that Rehoboth Beach was touting itself as a resort that was not...

Mess hall for the Lewes Civilian Conservation Corps

5 years ago
When Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) members were assigned to dig mosquito ditches in the salt...

How a baseball game in Milford looked in 1920

5 years ago
Spring season has started in Florida and Arizona for the major leagues. That has put us in mind of...

A timeless photo of muskrat houses in Delaware

5 years ago
This photograph is probably a half-century old or more, but the scene is one that could be seen...

A colorful Rehoboth Beach scene from 1949

5 years ago
As the grayness of February continues to hold sway, we thought this brightly colored postcard...

Bunkroom of Civilian Conservation Corps in Lewes

5 years ago
This photograph from the early 1930s shows the bunkroom in one of the Civilian Conservation Corps...

A heron rookery reminds that nesting season is...

5 years ago
This Delaware Wildlands postcard from the 1950s shows a New Castle County heron rookery on land...

Lavina Road in Milton a century or so ago

5 years ago
Yes, the street that comes into Milton from the southwest from Sand Hill Road was once known as...

A view of early 20th century Oak Orchard

5 years ago
This postcard view of Oak Orchard, on Indian River, was mailed sometime in the early 20th century...

A fledgling resort more than a century ago

5 years ago
Rehoboth Beach looks a lot different now than it did in 1908 when this “Bird’s Eye View” post card...

Methodism has had many faces through the centuries

5 years ago
This postcard mailed in 1937 shows how Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church in Rehoboth Beach looked...

Football playoffs time: Blue Hen gridiron back in 1954

5 years ago
Football was a tougher game back in October of 1954 when this photograph was made at a University...

Lifesaving crew coming back to the beach

5 years ago
Winter and its storms could be a tough time for the U.S. Lifesaving Service and its crews stationed...

Holiday decorations at Lewes’ 1812 park

5 years ago
The 1812 Park in Lewes looked much different in the middle part of the 20th century, but someone in...

Seine fishing for trout near Milford in the early...

5 years ago
Fishermen along the coast have been picking up a few migrating striped bass in recent weeks - some...

Boosting Delaware’s holly industry in the 1950s

5 years ago
It’s the Christmas parade time of the year and this photograph from the 1950s shows that the parade...

Christmas is in the air, especially in this postcard

5 years ago
This is a week full of parades in Delaware’s Cape Region, and Christmas is in the air. This...

Some of Sussex County’s earliest chicken exports

5 years ago
The recent announcement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that China is resuming its imports...

Veterans and ironworkers meet at Edgemoor in 1943

5 years ago
This photograph from March of 1943 shows a group of veterans meeting with ironworkers at the...