I'll bet that most people passing through Lewes Delaware are only stopping long enough to wait for the next ferry to Cape May. I'll bet that most don't pay any attention to that brown sign pointing the way to Cape Henlopen State Park. That's too bad because the park is seldom crowded, making it a pretty nice place to sit out on a beach blanket while doing a little tanning or maybe catching up on a few old paperbacks.

I've been to Cape Henlopen State Park a couple times, but never as a destination in itself. It's always been a situation where I was staying at a resort town like Rehoboth or Dewey and we'd be looking for something to do for the day..."oh what the heck, let's drive over to Cape Henlopen. Huh? You know, that park near where you catch the ferry. Sure, what the hay."

Still, it's a pretty cool place for birdwatchers, beach bums, or people who like camping in places where they can get sand in their sleeping bags and where the crashing sound of waves can keep them awake all night.

Nice Visitor Center
The first thing I usually do when visiting a park for the first time is to see if there's a visitor center, and if there is, I go there to find out a little bit more about the place -- what the major points of interest are, what special activities might be planned, what historical or natural events might have happened here -- that kind of stuff.

Cape Henlopen State Park has a nice visitor center with exhibits that focus mostly on wildlife in the mid-Atlantic barrier island environment.

This Place is for the Birds
The visitor center also has some historical exhibits and brochures that provide more info about the cape and its significance. Cape Henlopen first showed up on european maps in 1544 when Spanish explorers sailed around the cape into Delaware Bay, but it wouldn't be until the mid 17th century that Dutch settlers would arrive to look for permanent settlements. No permanent settlement ever took root on the cape itself. Nobody seemed to have liked the cape much because they all moved on to locations further inland. Nobody but the birds that is...

The cape is located along the Atlantic flyway and dozens of species of migratory birds nest along the cape. The park seems especially proud of its population of piping plover -- those little brown birds who scurry around the beach, dipping their beaks into the sand in search of tiny sand crabs. Some of the dunes are fenced off from public access because plovers nest in them.

The park has maybe three or four marked nature trails, but most are very short. One goes through a wetland area that's dotted with scrubby pine trees and another goes through some sand dunes that are called "walking" dunes because they move dozens of feet each year.

You Sank My Battleship!
Cape Henlopen had a fascinating military history, starting with a small fort built by the Dutch in the late 17th century. Most fascinating to me was the World War II stuff.

Because of the cape's strategic importance to coastal shipping (merchant and military vessels from Philadelphia would pass through the mouth of the bay here, and ships moving north from the Port of Baltimore or the Norfolk Naval Base would along the coast here), army observers were posted on the cape throughout World War II to watch for German naval activity. German submarines sank more than 400 vessels off the mid-Atlantic coast during World War II and almost a week after Germany surrendered, U-858 surrendered at Cape Henlopen.

The park has a cool observation tower that's built on top of one of the old army bunkers. You can climb up and get a bird's eye view of the dunes, marshes, and on a clear day you can see ships moving on the ocean -- some of them miles offshore.

Sun and Sand
Cape Henlopen State Park reminds me quite a bit of Assateague Island State Park on the Maryland end of that barrier island, but Cape Henlopen may be just a little bit less crowded.

Both are natural beaches without any commercial development, both have campgrounds, nature centers, plus parking lots and bathrooms for day users. But the big draw for either park is that you can easily walk the beach a little ways and find yourself on a deserted stretch of oceanfront -- just you and the piping plovers.

We found a very nice little parcel of prime beachfront property about halfway towards the harbor and lighthouse. We spread out on the warm grey sand, popped open a chilly brewski, and just watched the sun shimmer on the rippling surface of the sea.

Camping
The park does have a campground, but I've never stayed there. I can't imagine its much different than the campgrounds a few miles south at Assateague -- windy or hot and sticky and full of clouds of mosquitos all summer long. Probably a pretty cool place to hang out, but be prepared.

Fun in the Sun
The bottom line on this park is that it's a nice natural oceanfront beach park. There will probably be some seaweed on the beach because it's not going to be scraped each night like beaches in Ocean City might. It's also not going to have any arcades or french fry stands, but that's its magic.

If you're in Delaware or south Jersey and you're in the mood for a quiet little slice of nature where you can work on your tan without a lot of kids and parasailers over head, then I think Cape Henlopen State Park might be just what you're looking for. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got sand in my shoes...

Recommended: Yes

Best time to go: June-August
Recommended for: Anybody
Review Topic: Overview