Dr. Norene Moskalski
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Bowers Beach and South Bowers Beach, Delaware

4/28/2012

20 Comments

 

Bowers Beach, and Right Across a Narrow Inlet, South Bowers Beach: Two Beautiful Beaches Accessible to Each Other By a Quick Trip Over Water or a Longer Inland Drive

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Bowers Beach and South Bowers Beach

Bowers Beach on the Delaware Bay has a lovely stretch of white sand, scattered shells, colorful rocks and minerals, and gentle waves. What a great combination for family fun or solitary beachcombing! 

Bowers Beach is located 13.6 miles south of Dover, Delaware, with easy access from Delaware State Route 1S. Quaint summer vacation homes and modern multi-story homes on high pilings intermix along the beach and inland, as well. 

Bowers Beach is often confused with South Bowers Beach which is just an inlet away. Access to the southern beach front is by boat across a narrow inlet that is lined with boat launching sites, charter deep sea fishing services, charter dining tours, and local seafood restaurants. An alternate and much longer route to South Bowers Beach involves returning to Route 1 S and driving seven miles south to a left turn onto Milford Neck Road. From Milford Neck Road, veer left onto Mosley Road which becomes South Bowers Road. Follow South Bowers Road until it ends at the Delaware Bay. 

Both beaches have beautiful white sandy beaches with plenty of rocks and colorful stones to collect, but South Bowers Beach has been recently replenished with an abundance of clean, white sand that stretches seamlessly along the open bay beach, surrounded by lush dune grasses and shrubs. On the day I visited to take pictures for this column, I was the only person on the wide beach for most of the sunny afternoon. It is a rock collectors' paradise as areas of the white sand are overlaid with an amazing variety of minerals and stones. This section of South Bowers Beach is reached by simply following South Bowers Road until it runs into the sand, but if you veer to the left before the sand-covered road, you will drive past a group of bay houses and end up at the marina opposite the marina at Bowers Beach, just across the inlet described above. 

Bowers Beach and South Bowers Beach are two Delaware Bay Beaches worth visiting. By the way, did I tell you that you have to travel past the village of Little Heaven as you travel north or south on Route 1 to get to these beaches?

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Looking South Along Bowers Beach, Delaware
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Sandy Entrance Road to South Bowers Beach, Delaware
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View of the Delaware Bay at Bowers Beach, Delaware
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Looking South Along South Bowers Beach, Delaware
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Looking North Along Bowers Beach, Delaware
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Looking North Along South Bowers Beach, Delaware
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Rocks and Minerals at Bowers Beach, Delaware
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Rocks and Minerals at South Bowers Beach, Delaware
20 Comments
Mike
5/2/2012 01:10:03 pm

Always wondered about the sign on Route 1 S that said "Little Heaven."

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chas
8/24/2014 09:21:52 am

Cabins were for Irish laborers and called "Little Heaven" (1870) ... Later and nearby more cabins were built for Black laborers and this area was "Little Hell". So this area near Frederica, Delaware had "Little Heaven" and "Little Hell."

Reply
Norene
8/25/2014 12:36:11 pm

Chas,
Thanks for the added information. What interesting histories the bay beach areas have . . . we need to learn more.

Maria
5/2/2012 01:11:07 pm

Me, too. Anyone know more about that village?

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Norene link
5/2/2012 01:17:36 pm

Maria, there is sparse information about the village of Little Heaven, but here's a quotation from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Little Heaven
— Unincorporated community --
Little Heaven
Location within the state of Delaware
Coordinates: 39°02′30″N 75°27′24″WCoordinates: 39°02′30″N 75°27′24″W
Country United States
State Delaware
County Kent
Time zone Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP codes
FIPS code
GNIS feature ID 214234[1]
Little Heaven is an unincorporated community in Kent County, Delaware.[1] Its elevation is 30 ft (9.1 m) and its position 39°02′30″N 75°27′24″WCoordinates: 39°02′30″N 75°27′24″W. It is north of Frederica at the intersection of Delaware Route 1 and Clapham Road.
It originated in a group of cabins built by local farmer Jahu Reed in the 1870s for the Irish workers he employed in his orchards.[2]
[edit]References

^ a b "Little Heaven, Delaware". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 2010-04-19.
^ Francis, William; Michael Hahn (2009). The Dupont Highway. Arcadia Publishing. p. 63. ISBN 0738568481. Retrieved 27 July 2011.

Hope you found this interesting. Now onto finding out more about those Irish orchard workers!

Reply
Laura
6/23/2012 10:24:40 pm

Love your blog. We purchased a cottage from 1920 on South Bowers last summer. Absolutely love it. The turtles are coming in now to lay eggs, and I love their company while kayaking. Wonderful place for our young boys to explore.

Reply
Norene
6/24/2012 05:14:32 am

How wonderful to have a summer cottage in South Bowers! If you see a blonde person walking around the beach, looking for shells, bay glass, and colorful stones, that's me! Come say, "Hi!"

Reply
Kathy
5/25/2013 04:04:21 pm

Hi! I'm wondering if either of these are swimming allowed beaches and are they a good place to swim?

Reply
Norene Moskalski
5/27/2013 02:55:57 pm

Hi Kathy,
I have seen people wading in the waters of these beaches, but I have never seen anyone swimming in them. Some of the beaches have thick mud just a few yards out from the shoreline, on the bottom of the river, which could pose a hazard if your feet sunk in too far. I would recommend talking to people you see on each beach about whether entering the water there is safe or not. Also, I would google the kinds of fish caught in the area. Some Delaware Bay fish are very large, and an occasional small shark does enter the salty waters of the bay, too. Norene

Reply
Debbie Evans link
10/7/2013 07:06:00 am

We just purchased 4 acres of land on South Bowers Road. We are anxious to build a house there and enjoy the beauty of the area

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Valerie Wilson
2/22/2014 11:08:50 pm

We are looking into purchasing and renovating in S. Bowers. Are there any restrictions to building that we should be aware of?

Reply
Norene link
3/9/2014 09:04:14 am

Hi Valerie,

Bowers Beach is a wonderful bay beach town. I'd recommend searching the internet for Bowers Beach Comprehensive Plan because there are many new rules and regulations that have been developed due to expected sea level rise and possible flooding along the bay beaches.

Enjoy the summer!
Norene

Joe
10/30/2014 09:52:06 am

We too are looking at buying in s bowers. Are you concerned about long term flooding , I know the tides have flooded the road for years, I am considering long term beach health etc..

Norene
8/25/2014 12:38:27 pm

Hi Debbie,
Just wondering how your home building is going. South Bowers Road sounds like a great place to live.

Reply
Norene
12/3/2014 11:15:32 am

Hi Joe,
Yes, flooding can always be a problem. The State of Delaware has excellent flood maps on its website. Check them out before you buy anywhere.
Norene

Dave
12/8/2013 01:17:03 pm

Hi Norene - The swimming is fine off of both North and South Bowers. You should watch the tide tables though - at low tide there can be no water left at all - great wading, but no swimming. At high tide the water is fine. It seems a bit murky - lots of stuff in the bay water - but it is clean.

The area is GREAT for wind sports though - usually a strong breeze blows there, and the water is normally flat. Bring a windsurfer or a kite or a kiteboard, or small trailered sailboat (but watch the tide tables and dont get stuck in the mud!)

Dave.

Reply
Norene
8/25/2014 12:40:15 pm

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the info about swimming and other water sports at Bowers' Beaches.

Reply
Chrissy Bowser
9/20/2014 12:31:29 am

C'mon give us a break. We get enough tourist traffic around here. Let us keep our "Little Heaven" for ourselves before ya'll overcrowd that too.

Reply
Cameron
4/9/2017 07:22:43 am

Do you know what rules there are for South Bowers Beach? Specifically if fire pits are allowed?

Reply
New York link
2/24/2021 06:06:13 pm

Hi thanks for ssharing this

Reply



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    Dr. Norene Moskalski can often be found walking the beaches of the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, collecting sea glass, weathered minerals, unusual shells, and artifacts from colonial shipwrecks. A naturalist and environmentalist by nature, and a medical diagnostician by avocation, she has a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration and has held administrative and teaching positions at Penn State University and Temple University. She has spent most of her life preparing administrators and teachers to lead and teach ethically with love and respect for everyone. The settings for her novels are authentic vignettes from university campuses and places around the world she has visited. Each novel presents a variation on a theme, using literary techniques and musical innuendos to move the action forward. Her plots revolve around the unexpected: What if the most beautiful things in the world are the most dangerous?

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