Jun 23, 2016

“What beach do you go to?” For people living in the Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC area, the choice in summer locale says a lot.

: A beach house in Rehoboth on August 13, 1964. (Kniesche/Baltimore Sun)

: Rehoboth home in photo dated August 13, 1964. (Kniesche/Baltimore Sun)

: Mrs. Landon Davies enjoys views of canal from a broad screened porch in Rehoboth Beach, September 8, 1974. (Klender/Baltimore Sun)

: Beach house belonging to Davies family. September 8, 1974. (Klender/Baltimore Sun)

: Rehoboth’s name comes from a biblical phrase meaning “room enough.” But parking space for cars is at a premium. Photo dated August 12, 1964. (Kniesche/Baltimore Sun)

: Rehoboth has resisted the trend to build motels and amusement parks, but many homes of glass and natural wood have gone up along beach and around town. May 17, 1964. (Klender/Baltimore Sun)

: This is a typical summer scene at Rehoboth Beach, with vacationers enjoying the pool, strolling on boardwalk, just lolling on the beach, or frolicking in the ocean. Photo dated May 17, 1964.

: Fishing at Rehoboth Beach, August 20, 1967. (Baltimore Sun)

: Dolle’s Salt Water Taffy, August 28, 1985. (Kirschbaum/Baltimore Sun)

: Rehoboth Beach, August 18, 1989.

: “Rehoboth has an incessant hypnotic chant of being a ‘family’ beach,” Robert Ruby wrote in The Sun in 1982. Bethany, too, is the family beach. Ocean City is more populist — more of a free-for-all. As is the case with warring villages, “Each community has partisans intolerant of any other place. ‘I only go to Ocean City to see my dentist,’ says the mayor of Bethany, an otherwise good-natured man. ‘I make sure my appointments are in winter.'” Rehoboth Beach, August 18, 1989.

: A scene on the boardwalk at Rehoboth Beach. With its fine sand and sea, the resort town attracts thousands of visitors seeking to get away from it all. July 25, 1965.

: Replica of Henlopen Light House. August 12, 1964. (Kniesche/Baltimore Sun)

: Is it gone? Standing on a storm-created seaside ledge, this dog sniffs the ocean air. Behind is the ruin of a once-luxurious house. The storm devastated most ocean-front properties at Rehoboth, Delaware’s largest resort town. March 9, 1962.(Robinson/Baltimore Sun)

: In an article entitled, “A tale of two beaches: One for Md., one for D.C.,” The Sun’s Rob Kasper claimed that Rehoboth was the “Gerald Ford” of beaches. “If Ocean City’s style is similar to FDR, Rehoboth’s is akin to Gerald and Betty Ford. Friendly, well-dressed, confident people who have done well in life.” People who worked in politics, people who worked for National Geographic — this is who came to Rehoboth, founded as a Methodist resort in the 1870s. Photo from July 25, 1961. (Mortimer/Baltimore Sun)

: One of the older–if not the oldest home on the beach at Rehoboth is “The Homestead.” August 12, 1964. (Kniesche/Baltimore Sun)

: A man rides his bike past George’s Lunch in Rehoboth Beach on April 28, 1985. (Haddock/Baltimore Sun)

: “Umbrellas dot the beaches along Rehoboth Beach, Del., put up by sunbathers who don’t want too much of a good thing.” September 1, 1980. (Swagger/Baltimore Sun)

: Rehoboth Beach, June 4, 1982. (McCardell/Baltimore Sun)

: Mylene Turek and Craig Cutler eating crabs in Rehoboth, July 4, 1982. Sun reporter Robert Ruby wrote of their shared apartment: “Every parent’s innocent nightmare is represeneted here. A washing machine must have exploded, there are so many clothes scattered on the floor. The largest item in the refrigerator is an empty jar. “Civilization had grown in our refrigerator and died.” (McCardell/Baltimore Sun)

: Robert Ruby of The Sun profiled a group of teenagers living at Rehoboth. “Peggy, laughing well before anyone thought to mix the lemonade with rum, is telling everyone in the beach house how her best shoes came to be soggy and caked with sand. She holds them at arm’s length as if they were skunks. For its lack of consequences it’s a story of the summer and of the beach.” July 4, 1982. (McCardell/Baltimore Sun)

: Storm erosion has cut a steep cliff only a few feet from the Ocean highway bridge over the Indian River Inlet, south of Rehoboth. November 17, 1981. (DiPaola/Baltimore Sun)

“Rehoboth has an incessant hypnotic chant of being a ‘family’ beach,” Robert Ruby wrote in The Sun in 1982. Bethany, too, is the family beach. Ocean City, replete with arcades and restaurants, is more of a populist free-for-all. As is the case with warring villages, “Each community has partisans intolerant of any other place. ‘I only go to Ocean City to see my dentist,’ says the mayor of Bethany, an otherwise good-natured man. ‘I make sure my appointments are in winter.'”

In an article entitled, “A tale of two beaches: One for Md., one for D.C.,” The Sun’s Rob Kasper claimed that Rehoboth was the “Gerald Ford” of beaches. “If Ocean City’s style is similar to FDR, Rehoboth’s is akin to Gerald and Betty Ford. Friendly, well-dressed, confident people who have done well in life.” People who worked in politics, people who worked for National Geographic — this is who came to Rehoboth, he wrote.

Over time Rehoboth gained popularity with gay beachcombers, and members of the LGBTQ community opened several businesses in the area. But it hasn’t always been an easy relationship. In 1985, the mayor said he thought gay people were ruining the beach’s “family image.” Local business owners retorted that the mayor was perfectly happy to have gay customers spend money in Rehoboth, so long as they remained hidden from society.

From the vault: Rehoboth Beach, DE

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