Qualla: Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware: Introduction

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Protobowladdict, CC BY 4.0. A Methodist preacher named Robert W. Todd founded Rehoboth Beach in 1873. He envisioned the Atlantic dunes south of Cape Henlopen as a religious camp-meeting site - a place where Methodist Episcopal Church members could gather for prayer, hymns, and spiritual renewal away from the temptations of the city. His Rehoboth Beach Camp Meeting Association built simple tents in the dunes for the first summer revival. The Methodist preaching lasted eight years. The Association dissolved in 1881. In 1891, the General Assembly of Delaware incorporated the place as Cape Henlopen City. Two years later, somebody convinced the legislature to switch back to Rehoboth - a Hebrew word from the Old Testament meaning broad spaces. The town that started as a camp meeting now hosts the Sea Witch Festival, Poodle Beach, the Biden Summer White House, and three Tanger Outlets selling Calvin Klein. Rev. Todd would not recognize the place. Its name still belongs to him.

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Image: Protobowladdict | CC BY 4.0

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware: Rehoboth Means Broad Spaces

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, Public domain. The Hebrew word rehoboth means broad spaces. It appears three times in the Old Testament - as a well dug by Isaac, as a city on the Euphrates, and as one of the cities of Asshur in Mesopotamia. The Rehoboth Bay had carried the name for at least a century before the camp meeting w...

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Image: Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided | Public domain

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware: The Nation's Summer Capital

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dough4872, CC BY-SA 4.0. The town's self-promoted nickname - The Nation's Summer Capital - has more truth to it than most municipal slogans. Members of the U.S. Congress have summered in Rehoboth Beach for nearly a century, drawn by the proximity to Washington (about 120 miles, or two to three hours by c...

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Image: Dough4872 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware: Poodle Beach and CAMP Rehoboth

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dough4872, Public domain. Rehoboth Beach is one of the most LGBTQ-friendly resort towns on the East Coast. The town's gay-friendly identity grew out of the 1980s culinary renaissance, when a generation of openly gay restaurateurs and shopkeepers settled in the town and built new businesses. The visibility...

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Image: Dough4872 | Public domain

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware: Funland, Grotto, Dogfish

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dough4872, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk runs about one mile along the Atlantic. Funland, the small amusement park between Delaware and Brooklyn Avenues, has operated continuously since 1962 - a family-owned operation that has kept its prices low and its rides modest in scale. Grotto Pizza, ...

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Image: Dough4872 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware: The Sea Witch and the Curfew

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Sea Witch Festival, held the last weekend in October, is Rehoboth's signature Halloween event - a parade, costume contests, dog parade, and street festival drawing tens of thousands of visitors at the very end of the season. The festival began in 1989. It now extends the tour...

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Image: Famartin | CC BY-SA 4.0