(Delaware - Atlantic Ocean)
Cape Henlopen has the distinction of being one of the first parks in America: in 1682 William Penn decreed that Cape Henlopen would be for “the usage of the citizens of Lewes and Sussex County.” The area had been Delaware’s first permanent settlement 50 years earlier by ill-fated Dutch colonists who were massacred by local Indians. Cape Henlopen’s strategic location at the mouth of the Delaware Bay led the United States Army to establish Fort Miles among the dunes in 1941. In 1964, the Department of Defense declared 543 acres on the cape as surplus property and the State of Delaware established Cape Henlopen State Park. Today the park boasts more than 5,000 acres, including four miles of pristine beaches where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is Delaware’s largest state park.
Remnants of Cape Henlopen’s military past remain nestled among the massive sand dunes. Bunkers and gun emplace-ments were camouflaged deep in the sand and concrete observation towers were built along the shoreline to bolster America’s coastal defenses during World War II. Lookouts scanned the Atlantic Ocean for German U-boats during World War II and although the fort’s huge guns were never fired in battle, a German submarine did surrender here after the war.
Dogs are prohibited from all swimming and sunbathing beaches from May 1 to September 30 but dogs are allowed in the campground.
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