Fenwick Island
Small Incorporated Atlantic Beach Town At The Southern Tip Of Delaware'S Coast, On The Maryland Line, With A Free Town Beach, The 1850s Fenwick Island Lighthouse And Fenwick Island State Park To The North · Fenwick Island, Delaware
Fenwick Island is the southernmost of Delaware's three Quiet Resorts, a small town on a narrow strip of sand with the Atlantic on one side and Little Assawoman Bay on the other. At its southern edge it runs straight into Ocean City, Maryland, with no gap at all: the state line crosses Coastal Highway near 146th Street, and the high-rises begin almost at once. Fenwick itself stays low and residential, with beach houses, a short commercial strip of shops, mini golf and seafood places, and no boardwalk. Just west of the highway stands the Fenwick Island Lighthouse, a white tower of the late 1850s set beside the Transpeninsular Line survey stone of the 1750s, which marks where Delaware and Maryland were first divided. North of town, Fenwick Island State Park keeps roughly three miles of undeveloped ocean and bay beach between Fenwick and South Bethany, with a guarded swimming area and rentals on the bay side. It is a family beach town for a quiet week or a calm day, with Ocean City's noise twenty minutes south if anyone wants it.
Coastal Highway and 146th Street, Fenwick Island, Delaware, 19944, United States
The town beach is public and free, with no beach tags, and the sand is open to walk at any hour, but the rules change with the season and they are what spoil days. The Fenwick Island Beach Patrol usually guards the town beach from about Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day, in daytime hours only; outside those weeks and hours nobody is on the stands. Parking on town streets is restricted in summer, with signed and permit areas and ticketing, and the town has debated and changed its parking rules over the years; read the signs and confirm whether any paid parking now applies. Dogs are generally banned from the beach through the summer season; confirm the dates. Fenwick Island State Park is open daily, but charges a per-vehicle entry fee in season, roughly March to November, higher for out-of-state plates; its lifeguards, bathhouse food stand and bayside boat rentals run only in summer. The lighthouse has usually opened to visitors on limited seasonal days and hours run by volunteers, and is closed most of the year; confirm before you go. Mini golf, ice cream stands and many shops open in spring and close after early autumn. Confirm all seasons before planning around them.