It abuts the
Primehook Wildlife Preserve, which is a lovely place with rangers and
nature trails and they like the public to come into the preserve. The
wildlife preserve contains quite a bit of the precious "wet lands" and it
is on the "eastern flyway" for migratory birds. The state plants corn to
attract the birds and when the snow geese start arriving in the fall, the
sight is simply breathtaking. It is 4 miles from highway 1 back to
Broadkill Beach. The first two miles has a few houses, then the wildlife
preserve starts. The last two miles Route 16 winds through the preserve.
People crab in deep water creeks. Drive slow because deer cross. last
summer on a full moon night my friend was coming home from dinner in
Rehoboth and going through the wildlife preserve he saw ahead of him what
looked like a pile of brush on the road. He slowed to 15 mph, then
stopped. 20 large brown geese were standing in the road with their necks
stretched toward the full moon.
Broadkill is flat. It is wonderful for biking. The state has made the
very south tip of Broadkill a surf fishing area. Delaware Bay is teeming
with fish. You can keep a boat at your house and 4-wheel drive vehicles
are allowed on the beach, so you can pull your boat down. If you want real
fish, you go 10 miles out to the light house. Delaware Bay is perfect for
small sailboats and for wind surfing. And you can just pull your sailboat
up on the beach at night and leave it.
Since no one knows where Broadkill Beach is, it is quite safe. It is like
America used to be. It is a Tom Sawyer summer for kids. There is no
boardwalk, no noise. There is one general store, which has just about
everything, including doughnuts baked fresh daily. An energetic young
couple bought the store a couple years ago, so they will have it for a
generation. It is the only commercial establishment at Broadkill Beach.
It has a wood floor. It was once a dance hall. It has all the food you
need, but you can go to a supermarket on Highway One for heavy-duty
shopping. The store is also a source of information. The small public
beach at Broadkill is in front of the store.
There is only one north-south street at Broadkill: Bayshore Drive. They
blacktopped it a few years ago. Streets down to the beach are sand. My
beach front house has a panoramic water view from the deck and screened
porch. Starry nights at the beach are like being at sea or on the desert.
Take both your astronomy and terrestrial telescopes. Freighters go up
Delaware Bay 8 miles out. At night they are strung with lights. If you
have a 90x land telescope you can see people walking on the deck during the
day. You can also see the tops of sail boats out of Cape May on a clear
day.
The most amazing thing about Broadkill Beach is that no one knows about it.
Ask a hundred people who drive to Rehoboth every weekend where Broadkill
Beach is, and one or two will have heard of it. It is only 110 miles from
the Beltway. Broadkillians are independent type people who enjoy community
events. The houses at Broadkill have septic fields and "city" water. A
local family owns the water tower. Water costs $170 for the year, period,
no matter how much you use. I have standard cable TV.
My house is about 900 sq. ft. 3 bedrooms and 1 bath. Hard wood floors.
A small deck, then a large screened porch & living room and kitchen face
the water. All white inside. Cathedral ceiling. The master bedroom has a
Sertapedic queen size bed. The second bedroom has two single Sertapedic
beds. The third bedroom has up-and-down bunk beds. For the fall and early
spring, the house has a lovely Sierra wood stove with glass front. Central
heat & air conditioning are also available. It is a Rheem unit, 2.5 ton,
quiet as a kitten & cools nicely. The home has one full bathroom and also an outdoor shower.
I absolutely love Broadkill Beach. 20 people on the beach is a crowd. My
house is in an area where the beach gets wider each year. 20 years ago the
water was 30 feet in front of my house. Now there are 250 feet of rolling
sand dunes. Too lovely. Beach front houses have a perpetual easement from
the front lot line to the water and there can be no building in front of
the houses.
