Cape Henlopen has one of the best beaches
American Indians knew it. The U.S. Army knew it. And now thousands of readers of AARP Magazine, the publication for the 50-plus set, know it.
Cape Henlopen State Park has one of the best beaches north of Florida.
"It's a perfect location," said Rob Schroeder, a Lewes-area resident and longtime fan of the park. "With the ocean, with the bay, with the pine barren and the marsh behind it, it's a park that has something for everybody."
AARP asked Stephen P. Leatherman, better known as "Dr. Beach," to come up with five East Coast beaches outside of Florida that are visitor-friendly, relaxing, crowd-free and inexpensive.
Leatherman, director of the Florida International University Hurricane Research Center, also ranks beaches and maintains a popular Web site, www.drbeach.org.
Two beaches on the Delmarva Peninsula made it on the top five -- Cape Henlopen and Assateague Island National Seashore, just to the south in Worcester County.
Park Superintendent Paul Faircloth said that by some estimates, as many a million people visit the park each year. "We're multifaceted," he said.
From the fishing pier to the beach, surf fishing to hiking, biking and birding, "we offer a whole lot of stuff," he said.
On a long Labor Day weekend, as many as 10,000 to 12,000 people may visit the park each day, he said.
Faircloth said one other attraction might be that Cape Henlopen marks the beginning of Delaware's ocean shoreline.
"We're right at the beginning of the beach," he said.
People who don't want to fight the traffic to get to Rehoboth Beach, Dewey Beach, Bethany Beach or Fenwick Island may simply turn off at Lewes and head down to Cape Henlopen, he said.
"We're a prime location for that," he said.
source: delmarvanow.com
