The Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware — A special publication of the Coastal Point

e story of

Fenwick Island Delaware

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

e story of

  Delaware

is published by the same folks who bring you the Coastal Point every Friday.

Visit us at coastalpoint.com

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111 Atlantic Ave., Suite 2 Ocean View, DE 19970 302.539.1788

coastalpoint.com COVER: e Fenwick Island lighthouse during the supermoon on Sunday, June 23, 2013.

Photo by R. Chris Clark

We present to you ... Fenwick

I

certainly used to have a different perspective on Fenwick Island when I was younger. Of course, the younger version of myself also had a different perspective on jelly and cream cheese sandwiches, the merits of Lee Majors as a leadDarin J. McCann ing man in Hollywood and the staying power of my Pet Rock, Harvey.

Most of my family’s summer vacations involved week-long trips to Bethany Beach each year, and Fenwick Island was a place we drove through one night a summer to go visit the Ocean City (Md.) boardwalk. It was the sudden little town that appeared after driving through the state park portion of Route 1, and in my mind’s eye, it was the

Point of No Return

landmark that signaled we were getting close to our magical night of funnel cake and measuring how much my fastball had progressed over the past 12 months at the little game off the boardwalk.

As I got a little older, and my attention shifted from spending time with my grandparents and siblings to chasing girls, I usually found myself going to Ocean City for my beach trips with my friends. It seemed at the time like a haven for young blue-blooded American males, and the bus service provided us much more flexibility in reaching any part of the town whenever we saw fit. For a bunch of adolescent boys See NO RETURN page 6

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

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1907 postcard provided by Beth Tollson

Fenwick Island was easy-going from the beginning

U

nlike many towns in the U.S., Fenwick Island didn’t grow out of necessity. Far from the whirl of cities, trade ports and railLord Baltimore granted roads, Fenwick Island was a beach town that grew Fenwick Island to because people loved it.

Thomas Fenwick, a For a long time, Fenwick strayed from the wealthy York planter. beaten path of development and led people to a The Englishman never quiet, peaceful respite, so secluded that even its namevisited, although he sake never saw it. lived in Maryland and According to the late local historian Mary Pat Sussex County.

Kyle’s 1995 book“Fenwick Island: Ice Age to Jet Age,” in 1682, Lord Baltimore granted Fenwick Island to omas Fenwick, a wealthy York planter. e Eng4

lishman never visited, although he lived in Maryland and Sussex County.

However, two families did call dibs on the land: the Penns of Pennsylvania and Calverts of Maryland.

Each had their own claim, but could not specify exactly where the boundary was, thanks in part to a Dutch navigator in 1613.

According to Kyle, Cornelius May (or Mey) mistakenly called the island a cape (“Hindlopen,” in fact). When it was discovered that it was just a bulge in the land, mapmakers moved“Cape Henlopen” 20

e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

See Past page 8

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

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No Return continued from page 3

from Washington D.C., it was like being able to enjoy the Metro for cheap, without the worries of getting mugged or not paying attention and ending up at Benning Road and having to run for our collective lives. There was one night in particular that I will never forget and I ...

But I digress.

Long story, short, I didn’t have too many interactions with Fenwick Island until I began covering the area as a journalist in 1999. It immediately became one of my favorite towns, as the community displayed a consistently high level of civic pride, and I truly learned to appreciate the marriage of quiet beaches and quaint restaurants and shops that dotted the town’s landscape.

I think back fondly to then-Mayor Peg Baunchalk shaking her finger at me when pointing out exactly how stupid I was (You know I love you, Peg), and will never forget seeing my friend Chris Clark (now the Point’s photographer) sitting up with the grown-ups on the Fenwick Island Town Council.

Has Fenwick Island changed since I really began to take note of the town in 1999? Sure. We all have to some degree over that time period. But I argue that the character and charm of the town remains intact, and as long as there are communityminded people in the town to guide the direction it heads in the future, it always will be that special place for so many people.

*

We put together this publication with the idea of celebrating Fenwick Island, and maybe offering a little information that many of you didn’t know about the town.

We put together this publication with the idea of celebrating Fenwick Island, and maybe offering a little information that many of you didn’t know about the town.

We take a look back at the town’s history, offer a peek at where it is today and try to give you some ideas on where it could be going in the future. In addition, we give you a little look at the town’s most popular landmark, its lighthouse.

So, what is it that makes this publication unique, besides its dashing bald editor?

You. The people who live in Fenwick Island, work in Fenwick Island or vacation in Fenwick Island.

We did our regular research through the library and Internet to find facts and figures, but what we relied on to truly tell the story of this magical seaside town is the words and memories of the people who have either seen the town evolve over the years, or actively contributed themselves to that evolution.

And, to be honest, that probably wasn’t even a fair assessment. Everyone who has any contact at all with Fenwick Island has contributed in some way to the town that you see today. It is a home. It is a vacation. It is a place to work. And it is always a place to remember.

We thank you for taking the time to read this publication, and hope you walk away from it with an even greater appreciation for such an amazing place.

This is your Fenwick Island. And it is our Fenwick Island. We all have memories invested in this town, and it’s up to all of us to keep it vibrant in the future. 

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

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Past

to the west by railroad (unlike her popular neighbor, Ocean City, Md.) or even by boat (as was the case in Bethany Beach to the north, where train passengers finished their trip on the Loop Canal). So no master could claim her, and development was slow.

continued from page 4

Religious camp meetings bring summer population to the island But a few people made it to Fenwick in the 1880s, for the religious camp meetings, and organized resort plans took a back seat to Fenwick’s new purpose.

With the lighthouse overlooking their camp to the north, nearly 50 families built“tents” in a circle around their tabernacle in 1898, according to a reprinted 1930 map by D.J. Long. A central road led miles north to its present-day location.

In 1730, when the king of England granted the Delaware counties north of Cape Henlopen to the Penns, the Calvert maps mislabeled the“false” cape as Henlopen. So the Penns got an additional 20 miles of southern Calvert land.

Finally, the Maryland-Delaware border was surveyed in 1750 and 1751, culminating in the placement of a marker called, unromantically, the Transpeninsular Line, which designated the line between the two colonies, from Fenwick to Delmar, which was where the Mason-Dixon line would officially begin in 1760.

A stone was placed as the easternmost marker, emblazoned on the south side with Lord Baltimore’s Calvert family coat-of-arms and on the north side with the Penn family coat-of-arms and“three lower counties” of Delaware. e old monument still stands at the base of Fenwick Island Lighthouse, serving as a practical solution at the time and, today, a reminder of Fenwick’s questionable claim.

Grand plans for development of the town began and ended in the 1890s with the Fenwick Island Land Company, which envisioned a boardwalk, hunting preserve and oceanfront property. But the roads were rough and Fenwick was never connected 8

An undated postcard shows the cottages and beach in ‘Fenwick Island, Md.’ Greetings from Fenwick Island are offered in this postcard from the 50s featuring a photo by Paul Rogers. Postcards provided by Kimberly Grimes.

northwest to the Fenwick ditch, while the Eastern path would become 141st Street to the beach. e“tents” had three solid walls and a canvas flap people lifted to get some of that delicious sea air. e retreat revolved around three religious services daily, including sermon, prayers and hymns. at didn’t stop younger members from delighting in the vacation atmosphere, including resident Kimberly Grimes’ cousin, Ruth, who enjoyed the nightly youth walk, in which boys walked around in a circle and girls walked around them the opposite way.

e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

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Past continued from page 8

Fenwick Island was paradise. And there’s a reason vacationers kept coming back.

Despite dreadful roads and infrastructure, more and more people found their way to Fenwick, especially from the western corridor of Williamsville, Roxana and Selbyville, and Bishopville, Md. Businessman T. Coleman DuPont’s dream of a central state highway (now Route 113) was completed in the 1920s, but travel was still an effort. Locals crossed the original wooden bridge over the Fenwick Ditch, built between the locations of modern-day restaurants Papa Grandé’s and Harpoon Hanna’s.

Distant visitors came so far to get to Fenwick that it had a“Pittsburgh Beach” (along with “Delaware Beach” and“Maryland Beach”). A six-hour trip by modern standards, the 400-mile journey from Pittsburgh took several days. A train got people to Rehoboth Beach. From there, the inland boat

Cottages sprang up along the coast, deftly built by squatters who paid for nothing but building materials and food.They escaped the hot farms and coalmines inland to revel for a day, a week, an entire season, at the beach — even though swimming wasn’t regarded as a recreational activity until the 1900s.

dropped travellers at Bethany Beach’s Loop Canal. e dedicated adventurers hired a horse and cart to complete the sandy, marshy trip. “ey packed trunks, not suitcases. It was an investment to come here and stay,” said Grimes.

Squatters’ cottages foretell a future residential community Cottages sprang up along the coast, deftly built by squatters who paid for nothing but building materials and food. ey escaped the hot farms and coalmines inland to revel for a day, a week, an entire season, at the beach — even though swimming wasn’t regarded as a recreational activity until the 1900s.

Because Ocean City, Md., hadn’t yet crept so far north, Fenwick Island reached down into Maryland instead, so some postcards from the era even said “Fenwick Island, Md.” Amy Vickers of the Seaside Country Store said her grandfather and his friends gambled for property See Past page 12

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

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Past continued from page 10

because nobody wanted it.

But before the beach houses came, the handmade cottages held used furniture.

“Just clapboard — anything that old that you didn’t mind getting washed out to sea,” said Grimes.“You never brought anything good here. is is a sandbar … they understood that. We always took the silverware home.”

Even today, she said,“We’re living on borrowed time.” Every day, she said, she and her husband, Marc, wake up are thankful they’re still there.

“If the State didn’t start dumping sand when they did, we’d be gone. Most people don’t know how precarious we are.”

In 1941, the State ordered the squatters out. “e State wanted to kick everyone out. is was a barrier island,” said Grimes.“Security was getting out of control. People were building everywhere.”

Fenwick Island was an outlaw town that never learned to be bad. First populated by Protestant vacationers and squatted upon with charming cottages, Fenwick Island let people desert their dusty shoes for bare feet on warm sand. An ocean breeze kept tempers cool, the people prevailed, and, in the end, the State didn’t send constables to keep the peace — they sent mapmakers to divide lots. e Fenwick Islanders didn’t have to leave, but they did have to pay if they wanted to remain.

Oceanfront property cost $250 per lot, while ocean block was $100, and a few bayside lots cost $50 each for a location among the marshlands.

A postcard featuring Clark’s Store. e legend on the back reads “on Route 14 between Ocean and Bay. Light lunch, groceries, fountain service, gas and oil.

Cottages and apartments, phone Dickenson 683.”

Postcard provided

by Kimberly Grimes.

Town of Fenwick Island

“My grandfather was a squatter by the lighthouse. ey told him that he had to move it because he didn’t own that land,” said Jeff Mumford, whose grandfather paid for an oceanfront lot on the current 137th Street.

Many cottages were built or just moved into place. ey might have simple pilings, but no major foundation.

“We say the most modern thing in it is the coffee maker,” said Grimes of her grandparents’ cottage, joking that she won’t install a microwave for the nowrental cottage for fear that it’ll blow out the electricity. e modernized cottage had a front living room, narrow strip of kitchen and tiny bathroom in the back and two tiny upstairs bedrooms.

Indoor plumbing would eventually replace memories of hand-pumped wells. Grimes recalled a 50-gallon drum that collected water from her grandparents’ roof, leading to a hose used for showers.

By the 1950s,“Everyone had to get rid of the See Past page 14

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

13

Past

“ere was a box that his mother had sent to him overseas, and his name on the board.”

continued from page 12

outhouses,” Grimes said. e land underneath became County-owned tax ditches in the 1970s.

Before electricity was a luxury afforded to the cottages, people used the original iceboxes. Each day, Jimmy Clark delivered ice blocks to people from a Keenwik store.

“Somehow, it didn’t melt very quickly,” said Grimes, describing a dual box that held ice in the back and food in front.

James Ellis and his family fished on the beach. Later, they dug holes to bury garbage because there was no formal garbage collection or central dump for the town.

Apart from a few small shops, Jeff Mumford recalled,“e only place you could buy a loaf a bread was in Rehoboth or Selbyville.”

In later years, James Cooper would visit Hocker’s in Ocean View or Clarksville.

James Ellis recalled riding horses across the beach as a 13-year-old. Only supposed to trot, he and his friends instead removed the horses’ blankets and saddles, then raced bareback, like demons, down the beach. en they replaced the saddles and walked the horses back to the farmer near the lighthouse.

Later, during World War II, there was a noticeable military presence in Delaware, with concern about possible Nazi incursions from the sea, but Ellis was not overly concerned. e Dewey Beach towers guarded the Delaware Bay 24 hours a day. “e guards were up there on those towers, and they had checkpoints,” Ellis said.“ey’d ask you where you were going and how long you were going to be.”

Another guard patrolled the beach on horseback with a Doberman pinscher, instructing those in oceanfront homes to cover their lights or close the blinds at night.

Ellis said he and his friends sometimes found remnants of torpedoed ships.

“My buddy and I were walking on the beach and found a board washed up” from a package belonging to a member of the local Carey family, Ellis recalled.

14

Before electricity was a luxury afforded to the cottages, people used the original iceboxes. Each day, Jimmy Clark delivered ice blocks to people from a Keenwik store.

is postcard shows the Fenwick Island lighthouse located on the Mason-Dixon Transpeninsular Line separating Delaware and Maryland. Postcard provided by Kimberly Grimes.

Community transitions to town, with full-time residents Ellis and his family moved permanently to the beach in the 1950s. He also recalled that going to the Ocean City boardwalk was a big deal. People dressed up and walked the boardwalk or sat and watched the people stroll by.

Fenwick Island was governed by a kind of homeowners association, like other nearby beach commu-

nities. Many of those leaders later helped run the Town of Fenwick Island once it was incorporated in 1953. ough it had once stretched into Maryland, Fenwick’s official town limits stopped just two blocks short of the Maryland line on the bay side of current Route 1. But it ends six blocks farther north on the ocean side, at Atlantic Street.

In terms diversity, Fenwick historically mostly attracted white Protestants.

Grimes recalled that three black women worked in the Libby’s restaurant kitchen, with amazing“efficiency,” breezing through the dinner shift as easily as the 12 boys on the morning shift.

Grimes was a young employee at Libby’s when

e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

See Past page 16

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know that we are keeping our living rooms busy with rentals or heavy use, hard surface flooring becomes important.

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

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Past continued from page 14

she invited one of their daughters — a fellow pantry girl — to visit the beach with her.

“It wasn’t against the law for African-Americans to go to the beach, but people understood” that blacks didn’t go to the beach, Grimes learned. ey could swim at the bayside.

But African-Americans often worked in Fenwick, even cleaning houses alongside the Grimes women.

Even at 6 years old, Grimes was scrubbing windows with newspaper and vinegar, with“Miss Francis and Miss Jane.”

“My grandma was pretty progressive. ey ate with us — and the same food,” said Grimes. e first big diversification in Fenwick’s population wasn’t with racial minorities, but Catholics coming from Wilmington, and, later, some Jewish arrivals, as well. “is is Protestant land,” Grimes said of the

March of 1962 brought a Nor’easter that dramatically rearranged the face of Delmarva.After the three-day storm, Fenwick Island would be littered with the remnants of small cottages that had never had solid foundations.

Catholic influx.“I don’t think people did bad things to them, but [they] were wary of them. I never saw people treat people ugly.”

Despite being an ocean oasis, Fenwick Island is still rural Sussex County, so farming is ingrained in the culture.

Chickens were common in the town even in the last 100 years, but cattle roamed there in colonial times. In fact, the barrier islands were considered perfect for grazing, so the“Fenwick ditch” was dug (Route 54’s easternmost landmark before it reaches the island) to prevent the animals from escaping.

Tobacco crops were short-lived in Fenwick because the greedy plant, so used to sucking every nutrient from the soil, grew weary of sandy soil.

Fenwick Island was a little-known mineral hotspot in the late-1700s, when James and Jacob Brasure collected salt. According to Paul and Dorothy Pepper’s Delaware History article, the Brasures dug potholes on the back of the dunes, where the collected water was two times saltier than ocean water.

Two massive iron pots each held 125 gallons of water, suspended over an open flame. Two small pins

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

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(trunnions) attached the 500-pound pot to brick framework, so the contents could be easily poured out. After the salt boiled down, the Brasures packed it in wooden casks.

Over the years, more people got involved in the business, shipping salt to Millsboro, Kent County, Worcester County, Md., and Philadelphia, where it sold for $2 per bushel. e price increased to $3 during shortages, such as during the War of 1812.

By the 1870s, however, mining salt had become cheaper than the reduction method, and Fenwick’s salt industry faded away.

Nor’easter scours the coast, changes face of Fenwick March of 1962 brought a Nor’easter that dramatically rearranged the face of Delmarva. After the three-day storm, Fenwick Island would be littered with the remnants of small cottages that had never had solid foundations.

A sea-swept house knocked the corner out of

A salt pot on the grounds of the lighthouse.

Photo by R. Chris Clark

Tingle’s Motel (now the Sands Motel), said former owners Clarence“Bud”Tingle and Diane Tingle, who both have served on the Fenwick Island Town Council.

“I had water inside my house,” recalled resident James Ellis.“It was at ground level…

We came down, and the National Guard was up here. We had to park where the motel is and walk down to the cottage.”

Afterward, he had the house razed. A lot of people were building and rebuilding.

“Sixty-two was a big game-changer,” said Scott Fornwalt, owner of the Fenwick Crab House.“A See Past page 23

Many folks claim to be locals after living here a generation or two.

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

17

Fenwick Island makes its mark with lighthouse, famous survey e Fenwick Island Lighthouse stands tall above a memorial stone which marks the Transpeninsular Line and has stood there since 1751.

Photo by R. Chris Clark

J

ust a few feet north of the Transpeninsular Line stands the more than 150-year-old Fenwick Island Lighthouse. Both landmarks mark the site of an early American land controversy between William Penn and Lord Baltimore that began in 1681 and would last generations, until finally being settled in 1768.

Local resident John Bunting wrote to the Library of Congress in 1953, requesting information about the history of the lighthouse. The response noted that surveyors had arrived in Fenwick Island in December of 1750 to mark the dividing line between the colonial lands of Penn and Lord Baltimore’s colony of Maryland.

The Congressional letter stated, “They drove a stake at a point 139 perches west of the‘Main Ocean’ at a group of four mulberry trees where the lighthouse now stands. Then they measured east to the‘Verge of the Ocean’ and began the line there. They could put no permanent mark at the water’s edge, but they measured some six miles west and then quit, for the weather was bad, their cabin had burned up and the exposure was great.”

In April of 1751, John Watson and William Parsons of Pennsylvania and John Emory and Thomas Jones of Maryland were sent to survey the area again. On April 26, 1751, a stone was set

where the stake had been previously been driven, marking the border between Maryland and Delaware, or the Transpeninsular Line.

The south side of the stone is marked by the arms of Lord Baltimore, and the north side of the stone features the arms of the House of Penn. The original stone still stands today, now in front of the lighthouse.

When Lord Baltimore died, a new agreement was formed in 1760. Two English engineers, Mason and Dixon, were hired to take over the surveying job. They arrived in America in 1763, and after five years of work, came up with what is now accepted as the Mason-Dixon Line, ending the nearly century-long controversy.

The Fenwick Island Lighthouse, however, was not erected until 1859. The beacon was constructed to serve as a guide for ships from southern ports that were bound for Delaware. At the time, the Fenwick shoal made it dangerous for trade ships headed to Philadelphia, and the lighthouse was implemented so that ships could fall in with the coast when the Cape Henlopen lighthouse was

The south side of the stone is marked by the arms of Lord Baltimore, and the north side of the stone features the arms of the House of Penn.The original stone still stands today, now in front of the lighthouse.

not visible due to poor weather.

Before the lighthouse existed, there had been a 60-mile gap between the Cape Henlopen Lighthouse, which sits at the southern entrance to the Delaware Bay, and the lighthouse on Assateague Island. To solve the issue, Congress approved $25,000 for the new lighthouse in 1856 and purchased a 10-acre tract of land from Mary C. Hall for only $50 two years later.

The exact cost of the lighthouse was See Lighthouse page 21

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Lighthouse

sioned.

There’s something In 1978, the lighthouse was deactivated after calming about the light the Coast Guard had sold off most of the surfrom a lighthouse. rounding land, including the house belonging to

continued from page 19

$23,748.96. It stands .3 miles inshore on the coast Charles Gray, the last keeper of the lighthouse.

—New Friends of The ownership of the lighthouse transferred to the and 87 feet high. Before it was decommissioned, it the Fenwick Island flashed every three seconds and was visible for 15 State of Delaware in 1981.

Lighthouse member miles out to sea.

The decommissioning had The construction of the caught many of the locals off guard, lighthouse was including Paul and Dorothy Pepcompleted per. Paul Pepper’s grandfather had Dec. 29, 1858, been an assistant keeper at the but it wouldn’t lighthouse, and his great grandfabe lit until Aug. ther was the lighthouse’s third 1 of the followkeeper, so he and his wife ing year. John launched a campaign to restore Smith was the the light. lighthouse’s first Their effort finally proved keeper. In 1878, successful when the State of the lighthouse Delaware leased the lighthouse board began petito the Friends of the Fenwick tioning for funds for Island Lighta second dwelling house. Paul next to the structure, Pepper was when an assistant keeper was aselected as pressigned to duty. ident of the The Bureau of Lighthouses group, restoring took over for the Lighthouse a less powerful Board in 1910. The United light than the States Coast Guard took control original to the in 1931, before the federal govlighthouse the ernment finally took over in following year.

1981, just a few years after the The restoralighthouse was formally decommisSee Lighthouse page 22 Provided by Kimberly Grimes

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

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Lighthouse continued from page 21

tion of the lighthouse began in 1997, with its original third-order Fresnel lens was also restored. Pepper was succeeded as president of the Friends group in 1992 by Oliver H. Cropper, who helped raise more than $100,000 for its upkeep.

The New Friends of the Fenwick Island Lighthouse took over the lighthouse’s care in 2007, led by Winnie Lewes, granddaughter of a former lighthouse keeper. It continues to be operated on a limited schedule and is open to the public from May to September. Today, it serves as a historical landmark for the area, a part of Fenwick’s history that stands frozen in time.

One of the members of the New Friends of the Fenwick Island Lighthouse looked back on the lighthouse’s glory days fondly:“As children, we all came to the beach and it was all about seeing the light from the lighthouse,” she recalled,“It twirled

In the future, the organization plans on implementing a museum for the lighthouse, which is already recognized as a historical landmark on the National Register of Historic places.

around and the light shown for 15 miles into our cottage windows. That’s why we’re all still here.

There’s something calming about the light from a lighthouse. It was special.”

In the future, the organization plans on implementing a museum for the lighthouse, which is already recognized as a historical landmark on the National Register of Historic places.“The plans of our group are to, hopefully, get a museum for the lighthouse and expand so that more people around here understand our history,” said the New Friends member.

After more than a century and a half, the light may not shine quite as bright as it once did, but as long as its Friends are involved, it will always stand as a symbol of Fenwick’s rich maritime history.

For more information on the lighthouse’s history, its current operations and availability to the public, visit www.fenwickislandlighthouse.org.  Story by Tripp Colonell

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

Past continued from page 17

large number of homes have been here since the ’60s.”

Almost on a whim, resident James Cooper and his wife purchased a vacant, shrubby lot in 1970, halfway into a vacation with her brother and immediately after the“For Sale” sign was posted.

“Within an hour, I owned the lot,” Cooper said.

The beach program has “My wife mixed the mortar. We laid all the blocks. at was a collaborative effort. … We built the house destroyed surfing and ruined the sand bar, from the ground up.” which are crucial to He arrived late enough that he never saw outthe natural wave. houses in town, but he helped a friend install a new septic system after the ’62 storm.

—Bill Hall, But water was the center of life, and water ensurfer and thusiasts — which was just about everyone — could owner of Fisher’s swim on the beach or paddle out to Seal Island in the Popcorn in Little Assawoman Bay. People packed picnics, crab Fenwick Island pots, chicken necks and string for a day of crabbing. ey could tie up to a manmade dock. Seal Island also was a favorite spot for the Fenwick Island Yacht





Club, founded in 1961.

Grimes and her sister, Rebecca, were sent into the bay to collect clams. At the time, the Fenwick bayside was a gradual slope into bay, not bulkheads like today. So they wandered down, mudfooted, with a rubber tire floating behind them, attached by string to their waist. In the tire floated their bucket of clams.

Surfing was also a big deal for some. Waves were long and smooth in the old days, said many wave riders.

“We would eat in Fenwick in our wetsuits,” said Hall.“Most athletic people that like the water surf. It’s a significant sport for people who love water.”

For supplies, surfers could rely on Bobby Steele’s surf shack, Da Shack. And cold weather didn’t stop everyone from pursuing the lure of the waves.

“We had wetsuits in winter,” said John Carey. “ere were very few surfers.You had the waves all to yourself.” e biggest change to surfing in Fenwick was beach replenishment, said Kenny Roughton, owner of another store, Fenwick Island Surf Shop, which See Past page 24

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Past continued from page 23

had several iterations (Clear Light and New Wave surf shops) before he took over in 1983. “e beach program has destroyed surfing and ruined the sand bar, which are crucial to the natural wave,” said Bill Hall, who has surfed since he was a young teen in the late 1960s.

Young people made fun however they could.

Children roamed freely from beach to bay.

Teenagers cruised the beach in jalopies, recalled Diane Tingle.

Youthful population came to work and play Young people made fun however they could.

Children roamed freely from beach to bay. Teenagers cruised the beach in jalopies, recalled Diane Tingle.

“It was fun. ere weren’t any rules. … My parents had no idea exactly where we were,” said Grimes, although someone’s parent was always nearby.

She also recalled scavenging for nightly bonfires, too.

“If you had something in your yard that was wooden and not tied down … it was going in.”

People would walk from bonfire to bonfire, the strumming of guitars heard over the crackle of old driftwood from the Storm of ’62.

“We never wore shoes,” said Grimes, despite the tar-and-chip roadway. Instead, kids poured lines of sand across the street to create a comfortable walk24

Postcards provided by Kimberly Grimes.

way (and inevitable speed bump).

Once, after discovering a mildewed sofa on the beach, Grimes and her friends dragged the furniture to beach bonfires, hiding the thing under a neighbor’s house whenever the park service drove up to remove the eyesore. ey also attached seashells to jewelry clasps from Ruth’s Shell Shop (now Sea Shell City) and “hawked ’em up and down the beach,” Grimes said.

“And people bought them. I think people felt sorry for us.”

In the mid-1960s, Paula Mumford was a Seaford native who lived with five Libby’s coworkers in a beach house owned by one of their uncles.

“We partied, because we were a bunch of girls in a house. We came to attract a lot of attention!” said

Paula Mumford.“Lifeguards would come over, and other employees.”

“We were chasing girls — same things they do now. Some things don’t change,” said Carey.

“We used to go down into Ocean City. ere was hardly anything to do.”

In the 1970s and ’80s, several restaurants also formed a volleyball league in which the workers would compete after work.

Teenagers looking to earn college money usually got restaurant jobs at the big three: Warren’s Station, Libby’s and the Fenwick Crab House.

“Back then it was very quiet.You really only op-

e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

See Past page 26

THE PAST

Our great-grandparents, Adolphus & Amanda Watson, attended Fenwick Camp meetings since 1890’s & built a cottage on Lea Ave in 1910’s.

Our grandparents, Vance & Pearl McCabe, along with Pearl’s siblings, build many of Fenwick’s first cottages in the 1920’s and 30’s.

Rebecca Mais and Kimberly Grimes enjoying the beach

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

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Past continued from page 24

erated Memorial Day to Labor Day — still do,” said Jeff Mumford, who married a coworker and bought Warren’s Station. e old Dairy Queen is one of the only originals of the franchise, said Grimes, joking that when the state historical commission visited Fenwick,“ey didn’t care about the cottages.All they cared about was the Dairy Queen!”

“We have a backwards lifestyle. e rest of the world plays in summertime and has weekends off,” said Bill Hall, longtime owner of Fisher’s Popcorn in Fenwick.“We don’t do anything [fun] in summer and [we] work weekends because we’re catering to people’s weekends.” e beach patrol was a small but necessary business. Sonny Long, then 15, was the first lifeguard, in 1959.According to Kyle’s 2010 Beach Life article, Long was a known athlete and beachgoer, so the town council recruited him to patrol one mile of beach.

“He pulled a lot of people out, that’s for sure,” said later lifeguard Carey, who recalled that Long named his old patrol jeep “Nellybelle,” just like on Roy Rogers’television show.

All three worked for the State in unincorporated areas near Fenwick.

“Back in those days, there weren’t many people here,” said Carey, who guarded in the 1960s and’70s with his brothers Steve and Danny.

“I’m sure, compared to today, [lifesaving equipment] was ancient,” Carey said.“Floats were melted Mumford’s sheet metal.

Now they’re plastic.” e 10 or 12 lifeguards enjoyed the beach all day and simply took the equipment home each night. “e best summer as a lifeguard was the summer that‘Jaws’ came out. Nobody all summer went past their knees,” Carey said.

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

THE PAST

“I don’t think we had any pull-ins.”

What was the movie’s effect on lifeguards?

“I loved it. It made our days easy. It was a great movie,” Carey said.

After their parents’cottage washed away in the I love it. I get to see the Storm of ’62, the Carey boys rented a beach cottage tosunrise every morning. gether each summer.

I’m one of the first on “When school started, we had to go home”to [the island] and last to Frankford, said Carey.“It was heartbreaking every sumleave. mer.”

“It was quicker than it is today, because there was —Scott Mumford, no stoplights then,” said Jeff Mumford of the trip, reWarren’s Station calling only a single stoplight at the intersection of Restaurant Routes 1 and 54.



Year-round life takes root and grows



Fenwick Island slowly gained a small year-round population, sending its students to Selbyville High School and Indian River High School.

“When we moved here, there were 35 full-time residents, seven of them in our family,” said John Klein-

stuber.“If a street light was out or something, blame it on Kleinstuber kids!”

But something has kept more and more people coming back.And even before the dual highway was built in the 1970s,“My grandparents thought the beach was too crowded,” Grimes joked.

“We loved it, for one thing,” said Paula Mumford.

“All of us are from about the same era.We lived here, grew up here. … It’s just a small town. It couldn’t have been more beautiful.”

James Cooper would only offer one word to describe Fenwick Island:“Great.”

Residents have expanded their range to live along Route 54, including Scott Mumford, who took over Warren’s Station from his father, Jeff.

“I love it. I get to see the sunrise every morning. I’m one of the first on [the island] and last to leave,” said Scott Mumford.“ere’s no other place I’d rather be. …

I was born here and grew up here, and I’ll be here for a very long time.”  Story by Laura Walter

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

Two Great Locations 27

Photo by Tripp Colonell

Photo by R. C hri

s Clark

Photo by R 28

rk . Chris Cla

e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

Photo by Laura

Walter

lark . Chris C R y b o t o Ph Opposite page: Top, the Fenwick Island Community Park. Bottom left, a pontoon boat is decorated for the annual Fenwick Island Boat Parade. Bottom middle, town residents and visitors partcipate in the Fourth of July parade in Fenwick Island. Bottom right, the Fenwick Island Lighthouse is beautifully framed by a tree and some flowering shrubbery. is page: Below, Fenwick Island was heavily impacted by the Storm of ’62. At right, several photographs of the beach replenishment program in Fenwick Island.

Photo by

R. Chri

s Clark

Submitted Photo

Fenwick thrives as a multi-generational respite and year-round home P

resent-day Fenwick Island in the summer boasts the hustle and bustle of a resort beach town, much like surrounding northern towns of Bethany Beach and South Bethany and Ocean City, Md., to the south.

Visitors and guests come in the summer months and fill the single-family houses for a week or two and second-homeowner families come for weeks at a time, a weekend here or there or possibly the whole summer. ere are plenty of restaurants and specialty shops for the burgeoning summer population to have everything they need within walking distance, all in a 17-block radius. And while it slows down significantly after Labor Day each year, it is not quite the immediate drop-off it once was.

Of the 764 houses, 201 are occupied full-time year-round, for an occupancy rate of 26 percent according to the

30

is Fenwick Island sign welcomes visitors to the beach resort.

File Photo by Monica Scott

U.S. Census Factfinder. As of 2010, the year-round population was 379, up only 37 people from 2000. A bigger hike was seen in the years between 1990 and 2000; then, they grew from 186 full-time residents to 342.

While growth has slowed in the past decade for full-time residents, and short of annexing in acres of unincorporated Sussex County, the town is pretty much built out, Fenwick Island is still changing with the times.

“I came in 1969 as an 8-year-old, and it is a lot different, that’s for sure,” said John Kleinstuber of John F. Kleinstuber Real Estate in Fenwick Island.

“When Labor Day came, people practically rolled up the sidewalks. “e day after Labor Day, we would go back to school, and I remember walking up the beach after school on Dagsboro Street and there would not be a soul in sight — when just 24 hours before it was wall-to-wall people. It’s not like it is today,

e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

THE PRESENT

where people come down on weekends. It was a desolate town.”

Kleinstuber said the process of the summer season lengthening was a slow one, much like in neighboring towns.

“I can’t put a date on it, really, maybe the mid- to late ’80s. I can’t really say, but you used to literally be able to lie down on the two-lane highway and you would be perfectly fine taking a nap out there,” he joked.“ere just weren’t any cars.”

Not a desolate town anymore, the town leadership has noticed and appreciated the fact that they must do their part to be stewards of the environment, with more and more people finding them and coming to visit. e townsfolk and their businesses seem to have been at the forefront of the“green” movement that has picked up in recent years, especially when state rebates made renewable investments particularly worthwhile.

Just outside town limits, Nantucket’s restaurant has a very visible windmill and solar panels and several homeowners in town have ventured into solar panels on their roofs. Also, Warren’s Station and the Seaside Country Store have installed solar panels on their businesses, albeit not without a few snags along the way. e Town itself has had an environmental committee for several years and, in recent years, has adjusted their height limit to accommodate an extra three feet of space for solar panel placement and wind-power generation. e town has also had town-wide recycling in place for years and has used and offered rain barrels for others to use. is year, they managed their first summer of a “no smoking” ordinance on the beaches, something Town Manager Merritt Burke IV said went well, with little, if any, complaints.

In addition, the town saw a few changes recently, with concessions at the beach and Steen’s coming in to rent chairs and umbrellas to beachgoers. ey also tried out advertising on the lifeguard stands for a new revenue source — something they said has worked out well. is past summer, the town dealt with beach replenishment — something a few people took See Present page 32

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

31



Present

There is a different feel to it in Fenwick Island. continued from page 31 We have nice restaurants, but no issue with because it was in the middle of the season, real nightclubs. but they pressed on to completion.

It keeps it quiet.

Asked what sets Fenwick Island apart, KleinstuIt is one of the few ber said the town has relatively low density compared places you can still to other towns and is largely composed of single-famhave a bonfire on the ily residences. ere are townhouses in the unincorbeach. It is kind of a porated portion of the town, but for the most part it throwback, like in is single-family residences, not the high-rises of the early days.

Ocean City to the south. “ere is a different feel to it in Fenwick Island,” said Kleinstuber.“We have nice restaurants, but no real nightclubs. It keeps it quiet. It is one of the few places you can still have a bonfire on the beach. It is kind of a throwback, like in the early days.”

Scott Fornwalt, owner of Fenwick Crab House, which has been a staple in Fenwick Island for 50 years, also mentioned the bonfires — which require only a permit from town hall — as a thing that sets



—John Kleinstuber

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the town apart. He also said being so different from the city many people come from has its perks.

“You don’t have to watch your back here,” he said.

“It’s safe.”

As for the changing times, Fornwalt said it is not that different from the Fenwick Island of yesteryear.

“You can still get an ice cream at Dairy Queen — you could then and you can now!” he said.“I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia but always ended up in Fenwick Island. e whole idea of Fenwick Island hasn’t changed that much, other than adding a few houses.”

Longtime homeowner Bob Clark described the town as“our own little paradise. e sunsets… Well, every night it is different. It’s a secluded community with all the amenities. Of course, on a rainy day, traffic gets backed up, but you have everything you need right here. If I had an inkling of what heaven would be like, this could be it.”

Clark said his family has been in the town for

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

33

Present continued from page 32

four generations. Before retiring, his wife, Sue, was a teacher, so she and the kids would spend most of their summers in Fenwick Island. Both are involved in the Fenwick Island Yacht Club and were instrumental in starting up the Fenwick Island boat parade — something the community does each summer for fun.

“Our family just loves it,” he said of the town.

“Water has a calming effect on you. Sometimes peo34

A sidewalk sign welcomes motorcyclists to the new Ropewalk oyster house during Bike Week.

Photo by R. Chris Clark

ple complain because the water can come closer than you want it to, but you take all the precautions [of living at the beach].You take a chance no matter where you go. Life is a gamble, but I wouldn’t want to do it anyplace other than Fenwick Island.”

Kimberly Grimes, another resident of Fenwick Island, offered similar sentiments. She said she and her husband, Marco, had multiple feet of water under their house after“Superstorm Sandy” in 2012, but like many people at the beach, felt like they were lucky it wasn’t worse. She said she came back to town in 1996 to be closer to her family and because it was hard to stay away.

“I always managed to weasel my way back here. I wanted to see the world, but Fenwick Island has a sense of place, and of course the beach is lovely.”

Her family vacationed in Fenwick Island when she was young and, in 1959, her mom started the Fenwick Sub Shop, which was where present-day Nantucket’s is located, just outside town limits on the ocean side of the highway. “e dining area was our home, and the bar area was the sub shop,” she said.“It was two separate buildings.”

She said that, as a kid visiting in the summers, she never imagined Fenwick would grow to be what it is today.

“I am glad we have the retirees that live here yearround, so we have the possibility of having an income,” she said. She and her husband own an international cooperative retail store in nearby South Bethany, just north of Fenwick Island.

Grimes said the change she has seen in Fenwick includes the bigger homes that often replace the smaller, older cottages and knowing neighbors less — although she admitted it is more of a national change and not one specific to the town.

“I love the charm of the old cottages, but then people come and tear them down and build huge houses with big decks, and they are all fenced in — so we don’t really know people that much. ere is not the families sitting out in the front yard anymore because the old cottages didn’t have air conditioning. So, we don’t have as much social interaction with our neighbors.”

On the other hand, there are things that haven’t really changed.

e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

THE PRESENT

Fornwalt noted that one thing many Fenwick Islanders mention as something that sets them apart is the atmosphere of Bunting Avenue, which is a road that runs parallel to the ocean and Route 1.

“It’s a nice beach road where you can smell the salt air and the sand,” said Fornwalt.“ere are always plenty of bikes and dogs. Nothing seems to have changed with that.”

Kleinstuber, Grimes and Clark also mentioned Bunting Avenue as something special that Fenwick Island offers.

“In the morning, it is like a thoroughfare,” said Kleinstuber.“If you are in a car, you are in the minority, and that helps keep a neighborhood feel to it.”

Another Fenwick Island icon,Warren’s Station, also just celebrated 50 years in the town. Paula Mumford, who just retired from running the restaurant with her husband, Jeff, said,“It has been a great life.” eir son Scott and his wife, Elise, run the operation now. She said that, while the town has changed and grown, there

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Future continued from page 35

are some things that are very much the same.

“We don’t serve alcohol,” she noted. In 1971, when they bought the establishment, she said,“At the time, we were not allowed to.We have just been very fortunate.

Our employees can begin at 14 and then can learn the menu and start at 16, waiting tables.And a lot of them come back year after year.”

Fornwalt, who owns the Fenwick Crab House, and Amy Vickers of Seaside Country Store both worked at Warren’s before branching out and running their own businesses in the town.

Fornwalt said he is fortunate in that respect, too, that many of his employees have been there for 10, 15 or 20 years.

And it is not only the employees who keep coming back. Many of the shop owners and restaurants said generations of families come to town to eat and shop.

“We have generation after generation coming in,” said Fornwalt,“and sometimes at the same table.We have vacationers that come and say,‘We have been coming in for years. is is always our first stop!’”

Vickers said she wonders if the vacationers and shoppers know that many of the businesses are the same way, that many are family-run and now might have a new generation taking the reins.

She and her husband bought the store from her aunt and uncle 22 years ago, but she had worked in family businesses in town since she was a child.

“My aunt and uncle had businesses in the 1960s.

My aunt and uncle had the Seaside Motel, now the Sea-

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side Inn, and my grandfather had Pure Oil at the corner of Bayard, where Sea Shell City is now.”

Eventually, those businesses were sold and the family’s efforts were poured into the Seaside Country Store. ey started selling antiques but got away from that and more into gifts and specialty items as the customers’ wants changed with the times.

“We really care about these people,” said Vickers of her customers.“And most of the businesses in Fenwick have been in business for generations and are familyrun. I am not sure all the customers get to know that, but it is something that sets us apart. It is hard running a seasonal business.You try to do a year’s worth of business in three months, but we are just a bunch of locals trying to make it!”

And, like many of the business owners, many homeowners have been in town for generations, as well, and have seen their families grow up and around Fenwick Island. Clark reminisced that his son Chris, now a grown man, took his first steps on the beach in Fenwick Island and his older son Jon was a lifeguard captain in the town.

“Our lives have revolved around Fenwick Island,” he said. “It’s a beautiful place. I have enjoyed every minute of spending it down here,” he said.

But, as with anything one might love, there is a fine line between wanting to share its beauty with everyone and wanting to keep it all to yourself.

“I don’t like to brag about it too much, though,” concluded Clark,“because then other people perk up their ears and say,‘Hey, we want to be there!’”  Story by Monica Scott

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Fenwick Islanders hope future will look like its past and present A s with everything that’s yet to be, the future for the town of Fenwick Island is uncertain.

No one can predict when the next storm might roll in or what ordinances future town councils might pass, but, for now, many Fenwick Islanders are hoping the town stays relatively unchanged.

“I hope it stays the same and keeps the same small-town atmosphere and welcomes people who want to be in a quiet resort,” said Edward“Buzz” Henifin, a resident who has also served on the town council.

Henifin said that, during his years in Fenwick, homes have increased in size, and he hopes that in 38

e Fenwick Island Community park is a recent addition to the town, and represents the growth of the community.

Photo by Tripp Colonell

the future the 30-foot height restriction will remain in effect, to keep development from changing the character of the town. “at’s very important to those of us who live here, that we don’t allow houses higher than that, like the County does.”

Councilman Gene Langan said that he does not anticipate an increase in the height restriction. “e only thing that could change that is if there are changes with the flood zones. Someone else would have to mandate it. I don’t see the Town changing that.”

e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

See Future page 41

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Friday, May 28 2010- Fenwick Island Landmark Celebrates Two Decades

David & Janet Twinning, Opening Day at Nantuckets.

Reprinted from 05.27.2010 Maryland Coast Dispatch Staff Writer OCEAN CITY — Some have said that David and Janet Twining built Nantuckets Restaurant on an exceptional bowl of soup, but that would only be part of the recipe, and according to them, not nearly the most important ingredient.As the couple recently celebrated 20 years as award-winning restaurateurs of the Fenwick Island mainstay, they have their eyes set on the future, as their newest venture, Twining’s Lobster Shanty, is poised to open in a matter of weeks on the Route 54 corridor.

As they looked back on the last 20 years, and forecasted what lies ahead for the next 20,

Janet Twining quite literally gets choked up talking about Nantuckets’ humble beginnings as a run-down beach cottage in the quiet resort of Fenwick Island.

“When we got this building, we didn’t have any money and we really didn’t know what we were going to do,” said Janet. “Dave had just left the Ocean Club and I was working at The Dispatch as a sales rep hen I was approached by the people who owned this place when it was Galeano’s. I told David we had three days to make a decision, and we realized after three days that we had no other choice but to open our own place. The rest is pretty much history.”

When they opened Nantuckets in 1990, their two sons were toddlers, and the Twinings were seemingly just another young couple

trying to make a year-round living in a sea- “You have to like food and look at how peosonal resort. Although they had years of ple are consuming and spending,” said restaurant experience under their belts, they David. “You have to be conscious of what went against the grain and opted for a white they are looking for. There was a big push table cloth-New England-themed restaurant for calorie counting or higher-end dishes offering good comfort food and a warm and that sort of thing a few years back and homey environment smack dab in the mid- obviously now people want a value more dle of a handful of resorts and businesses than anything.” that have excelled at packaging up escapism On any given night, you’ll find both David like a frozen umbrella drink to tourists for and Janet strolling the dining room or sitthe last hundred years; palm trees and all. ting alongside their guests in the taproom, “We’ve never wanted to do what everyone as David has stepped out of the kitchen thanks in part to the excepelse was doing,” said Janet. “I tional work of chef love palm trees, but we

Michael Priola, who has wanted to make this run the kitchen at Nanplace feel like home for

tuckets for the last people who were away decade. from their homes. I don’t

“He’s been such a valuthink we were ever scared able asset to our success,” that the idea wasn’t

said Janet. As with Nangoing to work, because tuckets, the Twinings we didn’t have any time have seemingly gone to think about that. We

against the grain in coming were working too much and up with their new restaurant idea, the Lobtoo hard.”

From the beginning, David created all the ster Shanty, which they say will be themed dishes from scratch, including the infamous like an “Old fisherman’s shack” with intriQuahog Chowdah that has been on the cate wooden décor, a warm environment, a Nantuckets menu as long as the Twining seafood market, a steamer and raw bar, as name has been on the marquee. The Twin- well as fresh lobster being steamed on the ings believe that the business has remained spot for customers, in addition to a full dinsuccessful and continued to grow because ner menu. of the laid back and unpretentious atmos- “Just like with Nantuckets, we were apphere that they’ve created, the top-notch proached about taking the space over, and quality of their product, and most impor- it just happened at the right time, and it just tantly, the people who continuously come in all felt like it was meant to be,” said Janet.

“It’s such a beautiful view and we are really the doors.

“A lot of our friends really helped us, and excited for everyone to see what we have in that’s what makes this really emotional as store over there.” we are at 20 years,” said Janet. “They were With their boys both grown and out of colliterally in here helping us put the place to- lege, and both involved with the family busigether and then they were the first people to ness in some capacity, the Twinings aren’t come in when we opened. We couldn’t begin necessarily eyeing up retirement anytime to thank people enough for all the help they soon, as life in the Twining house literally gave us at the beginning. Our friends be- has come to mean working alongside one came our customers, and now it’s to the another in the restaurant, and now, restaupoint where our customers are becoming rants. our new friends. It’s our own little world in The Twinings say that this fact is why it was so important to create an at-home atmoshere.”

What started with a small run-down beach phere in their establishment. cottage has evolved into a full-tilt machine, “When people come into these doors, it’s like with hundreds of dinners being served liter- they are coming into our house,” said Janet. ally every night in the summer, a million “We take pride in the fact that we’ve always dollar renovation that is less than five years treated this restaurant and the people who old with brand new appliances and space, come here as if we were having company at all powered by a wind turbine and solar our house. But, I ask David all the time panels that were installed last year, in addi- when we are going to retire, and he tells me tion to numerous industry awards and ac- that we already are, so if this is what being retired feels like, then we couldn’t be happier colades.

David Twining says staying current with the and more thankful and excited for whatever trends is vital for the ever changing world of is next.” the restaurant business.

Fenwick Island Just North of O.C., Just South of Bethany 302.539.2607 • 800.362.DINE www.nantucketsrestaurant.com

40

e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

THE FUTURE

Future continued from page 38

“e Town has been very conservative on building codes. I think that’s a good thing,” said John Kleinstuber of John F. Kleinstuber Real Estate in Fenwick Island.

Councilman Roy Williams said he believes the residential areas of the town will most likely stay the same in the future but he is unsure about how the commercial zone will change. “at’s kind of hard to say,” he said.“Everything right now has been pretty quiet. e changes will be up and down. It’s been light because of the down economy.”

As for annexation in the future, the chance of that is highly unlikely.

“You have to remember that the more governments you have to deal with, the more interference,” said Bill Hall, owner of Fisher’s Popcorn, located just outside of the town limits, adding he’s against annexa-

tion of those unincorporated areas into the town. “[It’s] only a drain on your ability to function.”

“I’m fine out of town,” added Kenny Roughton, owner of the Fenwick Island Surf Shop.“ere are just a couple small regulations we would have to follow that we don’t pay any attention to. [But] I don’t see myself going anywhere. I’ve been here a long time.

Like any business, there’s challenges year-to-year, weather, economy, competition, but … if you want to do it, you just keep moving forward. I can squeeze out a living here.”

Councilman Gardner Bunting, who has lived in the town as a part-time and full-time resident for 60 years, said that annexation could only occur for properties immediately adjacent to properties in town. Although he said he doubts the town will grow in such a way, he said he believes the town would have plenty to offer.

“Eventually it’ll become more expensive to live here, because of our inability to expand. It’s kind of See Future page 42

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

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Future continued from page 41

like playing cards — it’s the hand you’re dealt. If they want to join us, I don’t think anybody would complain,” he said.“ere could be some issues of existing buildings not meeting our criteria, but that’s a zoning issue.You can always create a zone to handle something like that, so that they’re not really in violation, because they would be zoned for that.”

West Fenwick extends growth inland Just over the Route 54 bridge — in the unincorporated part of Sussex County that some call“West Fenwick” — the Delaware Department of Transportation recently completed its State Route 54 Mainline Improvements project, which widened the road, allowing for a center left-turn lane. e improvements were designed to improve the safety of the roadway for vehicular traffic, as well as bicycles

Along with Bayside, the Bayside Village Center opened, bringing a Harris Teeter grocery store and numerous other shops.

and pedestrians. “is area was identified as a high priority by Sussex County Council, due to high development growth in the corridor over the last several years,” DelDOT representatives explained.

Much of that growth is due to the construction of Bayside, a residential community with its own golf course, as well as the open-air Freeman Stage venue, and a restaurant and event venue. Like many of the area’s planned residential communities, it offers a place for people to invest in real estate, or to visit parttime, or retire, and sometimes all three — all near Fenwick Island.

Along with Bayside, the Bayside Village Center opened, bringing a Harris Teeter grocery store and numerous other shops. A new Food Lion, the Bayville Shopping Center and various other businesses are also among the commercial establishments forming the backbone of the West Fenwick area along Route 54.

See Future page 44

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Downtown commercial district targeted for revitalization While Fenwick’s surrounding areas are growing in population and in service, the town itself has remained relatively unchanged. However, the town’s population of both part-time and year-round residents has been on the rise and may continue in that fashion in future years.

“Let me put it this way: I moved to Fenwick when I got married. ere were 10 people living here,” said Bunting.“Since that time, we’re somewhere in the neighborhood of 390 people year-round, and that is still continuing to grow. We have more people retiring here. And, in general, we’re seeing more people of all ages living here… We’d like to have more year-round residents,” he added. ose in Fenwick now do see change coming to



We know the issue that every little beach town has, and that’s called parking, and we’re working on that.

We’d like to see shared parking wherever possible.

It’ll help everyone in the long run.



—Town Councilman Gardner Bunting

the town’s commercial district, but there’s a general consensus that that change will not affect the overall look or feel of the town.

“I also see, in accordance with our Comprehensive Plan, the revitalization of our commercial area in town. My feeling is there will be some redevelopment in the commercial areas. ere are a few empty lots on Route 1 that in the next several years will be developed, and I’m sure they’ll be successful,” said Langan. “e new businesses that have opened up in town are doing very well.”

With the redevelopment of the commercial district, the Town hopes to work on a problem that plagues all beach communities: parking.

“We know the issue that every little beach town has, and that’s called parking, and we’re working on that,” said Bunting.“We’d like to see shared parking wherever possible. It’ll help everyone in the long run.”

Currently, the Town has a committee looking into how to help alleviate some of the parking issues See Future page 46

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

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Future continued from page 44

the town faces.

“We just initiated a parking committee so we can make sure there’s enough parking for residents, visitors, and also for the commercial properties,” said Langan.

“Down the road, as the properties redevelop, as we know will happen, we want to move the buildings closer to the highway and put parking in the rear,” Bunting added.“We think that’ll be more attractive, and we think we can do a better job managing it. It’ll create a different look for the people passing through and might make the town a little more inviting.”

Bunting said that when the town was originally laid out, the streets were very narrow, and they still are. “ere’s not much we can do about that, because the town is pretty much built out. Now, everything that’s built is a teardown-rebuild. ere’s very little open space left. So we’re dealing with a problem that, all of a sudden, we have more people who want to park than we have spaces. We’re looking for ways to provide additional parking.”

Williams noted that he could see some of the town’s current parking issues change with commercial properties being renovated in the future. “ere may be more two-story, because of the price of the land and the cost of the building. ey need to utilize the space,” he said.“e commercial property was never quite right. I don’t think there’s enough parking for what is there. It does create some



I hope it will remain similar to what it is now. I think people like the small-town quality of Fenwick.



—Amy Vickers



Parks and beaches remain the town’s crowning jewels

What you see now, population-wise, will grow year-round, because people are retiring. I think it will be in high demand for people who are looking for areas to ‘get away from it all.’



—John Kleinstuber

problems, and if it gets developed more, it’s going to create even more trouble.”

Along with future parking solutions, the Town hopes to provide residents and visitors with sidewalks along Route 1. e idea had been discussed in previous years; however, the Town could not afford the cost. e big thing — I hope to have sidewalks on both sides of Route 1, up and down Fenwick, so that people don’t have to walk in the street,” Langan said.

“It’s so expensive that it’s an undertaking that we as a Town can’t undertake by ourselves.”

Langan said the Town would need financial help from the State or the federal government in order to bring sidewalks to the town, and he hopes that, in the future, sidewalks will be a feature in Fenwick.

“We have the engineering drawings to do it, but it’s just a question of funding. e Town just couldn’t afford to do it themselves.”

Allowing residents and visitors to enjoy Fenwick’s beautiful outdoor scenery is something they all want to preserve for future generations. e town currently features the Fenwick Island Community Park, which includes a playground and a gazebo, and it is in the process of completing the Cannon Street Park, which will have a basketball court and a rain garden. “e Cannon Street Park is a Delaware Greenway Trailhead from the town of Fenwick Island to the Little Assawoman State Wildlife area,” shared Town Manager Merritt Burke.

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

THE FUTURE

e new park will also feature an ADA-approved kayak launch for those who are handicapped and want to enjoy the Little Assawoman Bay. “I think it’s the only one in the state,” said Bunting.“at was a major feeling of accomplishment. We wanted to develop it, and it was one of the things the State suggested we might build. We gladly thought that would be a great start. at piece of property will be completed soon.” e Town currently participates in the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s annual Coastal Cleanup but also holds their own cleanup effort every spring before the summer season kicks off.

Langan said that he believes the Town will continue with the cleanups and be proactive in maintaining its natural environment.

“I also see the town continuing to keep the bay and beaches clean. at’s a really important thing for the people who live in this town and everyone who visits it, too. I want it for my grandchildren. We want it for ourselves. We just have to save that,” he said.



I just think it’s a wonderful town, and we should try to keep it a quiet resort.



—Edward ‘Buzz’ Henifin

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“One of the things the Town did this year was pass the smoking ban on beaches. It was very successful. is last clean-up, we didn’t have many cigarette butts or anything like that. So it worked.”

As the town’s beaches are controlled by the State, Langan said that, even though the Town can’t touch the dunes or crosswalks, it will be vigilant in keeping the State informed of the town’s needs regarding its beaches.

Fenwick looks into the future, with technology and storm safety Technology has grown in a big way in the town over the past year, and will continue to grow in the years to come. “e future is going to be maintaining a strong technology process with social media,” said Burke, “keeping the website updated in the future, using technology to engage the community, like Facebook, See Future page 48

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THE FUTURE

e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

47

Future continued from page 47

Twitter and our website. Look at all those venues and see what we’ve done in the last year. I’m very proud of that aspect of our town. I think that we, as a staff, put out a lot of good information.”

“We want to keep the town in the forefront of technology as technology changes,” Langan added.

Langan said that he hopes the Town will eventually offer wi-fi throughout the downtown area and on its beaches.

Along with the Town moving ahead with technology now and in the future, with its new Public Works building, there is more opportunity to do streaming video calls with emergency personnel during events such as 2012’s Hurricane Sandy.

“We used that as a staging point for personnel during Sandy,” explained Langan of the public works building.“at building is hurricane-proof. We met there — the people on the emergency committee — and participated in the bridge calls. We did that — the National Guard was there, the state police were 48

e community of Bayside has helped to spur commercial growth, like the Bayside Village Center, to the west of Fenwick.

Photo by Tripp Colonell

there. Our chief of police actually set up cots and had food there for people who couldn’t get home.

“It really worked well and, hopefully, we won’t have to go through that again. But if we do someday, I think we’re really well prepared, because we have a place for people to meet and a place for people to make decisions.”

Langan also said he sees town hall going paperless in the future, with most everything being electronic, including meeting agendas that would be projected on a screen.

Burke agreed, adding that the Town is already utilizing tablets, computers, smartphones and projection equipment to try to limit paper use.

For the past two years, the Town, along with the Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce, has been using that technology to draw summer visitors to its beaches for the weekly Fenwick Flicks. “e Chamber has been working with us, having the movies on the beach. ose nights, we’re forgiving the parking violations, to allow more places for people to park. at’s been a good thing for two years and, with our approval, it’s probably going to con-

e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

See Future page 50

THE FUTURE

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Future tinue next year.

“It seems to be drawing people in and benefitting the businesses. at’s always good, because they can’t survive without customers,” said Bunting.“New customers are great. ey come in and go to one place and are happy. Maybe they’ll come back and visit again. We’re trying to make it positive.”

A view of the new Cannon Street Park in Fenwick Island. e park features a basketball court, rain garden and an ADA kayak launch (pictured above).

Fenwick’s small-town feel a core value heading into the future

Photo by Tripp Colonell

continued from page 48

No matter what the future has to offer for Fenwick, its residents hope it will retain the unique small-town charm that they’ve fallen in love with.

“I hope it’s not going to be vastly different,” said former mayor Peg Baunchaulk, who’s been a fulltime resident for 20 years.“I think Fenwick is still one of the few towns along this coast that still has a lot of its charm and a lot of the things that people who live 50

here like to see.

“It’s a quiet place to live and it’s a good place to live. I wouldn’t want to see us changing vastly. I don’t want to see us change to the point that some of the other coastal towns have. I just hope that the future councils realize the jewel we have here and work to keep it as much like this as it can.”

“I think we all hope it still maintains its smalltown, family atmosphere,” said Langan.“I think that’s one of the key things that we want. I know that’s what I want, personally, to see happen in the future.”

“The town was established long before it was incorporated,” he noted.“The people that incorporated the town, that was one of their visions: to keep it a quiet place. They did not want the commercialization that we have in Ocean City.“There’s nothing wrong with it — we just don’t want all that here.

“We want to keep Fenwick as near the smalltown atmosphere as we can. It’s worked for us since 1953, and it’s worked pretty well, and we’d kind of like to keep it that way.” 

e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware

THE FUTURE

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e Story of Fenwick Island, Delaware