Rehoboth Beach - On-Your-Own
- Product code: PG370E
The earliest settlers in this area were Native Americans who traveled
to the beach in summer months to enjoy the cool breezes and abundant
seafood. Between 1650 and 1675, English and Dutch settlers put down
roots here as the area became home to farmers and members of William
Penn's earliest legislatures. Later settlers participated in the
American Revolutionary War.
According to information from the Rehoboth Beach Historical Society and Museum,
in 1872, Rev. Robert W. Todd of St. Paul's M.E. Church in Wilmington
visited a religious camp meeting on the Jersey Shore. He soon pursued
the idea of starting a camp on the Delaware coast. In 1873, on 414 acres
purchased from local farmers, the Rehoboth Camp Meeting Association was
formed.
The grounds were laid out in a fan-shaped design with wide streets,
parks, and specific building lots. This design remains largely intact
today.
While the association discontinued its formal meetings by 1881, other
groups utilized the site for services until around the turn on the 20th
century. In 1891, Delaware's General Assembly established the territory
as a municipality, naming it Henlopen City. In 1891, it was renamed
Rehoboth Beach.
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The boardwalk, now a mile long, was originally built in
1873 on high ground between the beach and Surf Avenue, which ran the
full length of the oceanfront; many storms have changed the
configuration over the years. In 1879, the original Henlopen Hotel was
built on the site now occupied by a hotel of the same name.
With the coming of the railroad, which ran down the center of what is
now Rehoboth Avenue, the second block of Baltimore Avenue became the
new center for camp meetings and city life. Many of the original tent
houses (small, one-room buildings surrounding a center structure) were
moved there and new ones constructed as well.
In 1925, a paved highway was completed from Georgetown to Rehoboth
Beach. It helped link the resort with the paved roads connecting
Washington, D.C., and many legislators, diplomats, and government
employees began to visit and vacation here. It wasn't long before
Rehoboth Beach came to be known as the "Nation's Summer Capital."
From its beginnings as a spiritual center to the public's embrace of
the seacoast as a mecca for leisure activity, Rehoboth Beach has
developed as a close-knit seaside town. It's a nod to the past that the
city's present-day charter includes words that are nearly identical to
several from the 1872 charter of the Camp Meeting Association, referring
to "the maintenance of a
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permanent seaside resort and the furnishing of proper conveniences and attractions requisite to the same."
Downtown Rehoboth Beach came of age in the era of Victorian
influences, and has continued to evolve through the generations. Both
Rehoboth's residential and commercial areas, despite their growth and
maturation, have retained the warm and friendly charm and ambiance that
reflect Rehoboth Beach's historic past.
Departure Times:
Saint Clair: 7:00 AM
Cressona: 7:20 AM
Hamburg: 7:45 AM
Arrive Approx: 11:00 AM
Depart: 6:00 PM
Drop-Off and Pickup -