Lewes Beach and Roosevelt Beach Along the Delaware Bay

Lewes Beach in Lewes, Delaware (pronounced Lewis), is one of the area's beautiful, family beaches stretching along the Delaware Bay. Its gently sloping shoreline creates two to three foot waves that provide a safe place for children to swim and play. The sandy beach extends south in a crescent shape to Cape Henlopen State Park and north to nearby Roosevelt Beach, which is adjacent to the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal that connects the two cities. At the entrance to the canal, the University of Delaware docks its fleet of ships which includes their newest seagoing research experiment vessel, the R/V Hugh R. Sharp. Lining the canal are numerous docks, boathouses, lovely family homes, and well-known eating and shopping establishments.

Walking along the shoreline from Lewes Beach to Roosevelt Beach, beachcombers find a variety of shells, whelks, conches, horseshoe crab shells, seaweed, minerals, stones, rocks, sea glass, and shipwreck artifacts. Along the way, several jetties designed for small craft launching and for holding the sandy shore in place, jut out into the gentle bay, often accumulating barnacles, starfish, and other water life while providing feeding habitat for small bay fishes.

Entrance to both bay beaches is an easy walk along designated paths over the dunes or along pathways from parking areas. Lewes Beach has a metered, paved parking lot, and Roosevelt Beach has a free, graveled parking area. Lifeguards are on duty during the summer season at Lewes Beach, but Roosevelt Beach does not have lifeguards. Instead, families watch their children play in the slight surf where sailboats and kayaks launch out into the gentle bay waters.