Dewey Beach, DE

Dewey Beach is a Sussex County town on the narrow strip between the Atlantic Ocean and Rehoboth Bay, about a mile long and two blocks wide. Delaware Route 1 is the main north-south road, linking the town with Rehoboth Beach to the north and the coastal communities toward Bethany Beach and Ocean City to the south. That geography puts homes, lodging, beach access, and bayfront activity into a very small corridor. The bay also gives the town a second water edge for boating and shoreline access.

ATTRFamartin / CC BY-SA 4.0

The Rehoboth Beach Life-Saving Station at the end of Dagsworthy Street dates to 1878 and later became a Coast Guard station, giving Dewey a tangible maritime past. Cape Henlopen School District serves the town, while the annual Dewey Beach Music Conference adds a recurring late-September event beyond the summer beach calendar. The town incorporated in 1981, and its present-day character comes from the tight meeting of ocean, bay, Route 1, and a seasonal commercial strip.