7 of the Quirkiest Towns in Delaware

Delaware is one of the smallest states in America but also one of the quirkiest. Even its founding, as a Dutch colony, turned into a gift from future English king James to pay off a debt, is quirky. Modern Delaware's oddities include its corporate tax breaks, which is why, as the 43rd-ranked state by GDP, it incorporates nearly 70 percent of Fortune 500 companies. Amazingly, Delaware has more businesses than people. But to get even weirder, you must visit Delaware's towns, where you can find a possessed cannonball, a near-fatal pumpkin chucking festival, and a steampunk treehouse. While touring these superbly strange sites, do not just be aware. Be Delaware.

Lewes

Lewes's first quirk is that it calls itself a city despite having only 3,300 residents. It is also the home of Zwaanendael Museum. Taking the name of Lewes when it was the state's first colony, Zwaanendael ("swan valley" in archaic Dutch) is a museum of Delaware history in a building that looks like a gingerbread house. Deep inside, however, is the Fiji Merman, a counterfeit mythological creature likely crafted by a 19th-century Asian taxidermist.

Zwaanendael's merman is not the only creepy craft in this counterfeit city. Cannonball House, which doubles as a maritime museum, was so named because of the eponymous projectile that hit it during an 1813 bombardment from Britain. A commemorative cannonball was welded into its side in the '70s, but it went missing in 2023, only to reappear a few blocks away six days later. Police had no leads. If that is not quirky enough, walk around Cape Henlopen State Park, a decommissioned army fort with bunkers and watchtowers, including Tower 12, supposedly haunted by a soldier's ghost.

Milton

About the same size as Lewes but properly designated as a town, Milton was named after English poet John Milton, of whom a life-sized statue sits on a bench along "The Governor's Walk." But bronze Milton is not as stable as you might think. His outfit changes throughout the year courtesy of anonymous pranksters or perhaps the ghost of Milton himself. A Santa hat, leprechaun beard, and pumpkin are just some of the accessories sported by the sculpture.

Across Wagamons Pond from mini-Milton is another avant-garde art piece: The Steampunk Tree House. Designed by Sean Orlando and rehomed at Milton's Dogfish Head Brewery, the twisted treehouse is 40 feet tall, weighs eight tons, and is made of recycled wood and steel. The outside is accessible for viewing by visitors to the brewery, but the interior is reserved for workers at the site.

Slaughter Beach

Slaughter Beach is an idyllic little town on the Atlantic Ocean. So why the barbaric name? There are a few theories, chief of which concerns horseshoe crabs. Now a sanctuary for the alien-looking creatures, which, quirkily enough, are Delaware's state marine animals, SB attracts hordes of horseshoe crabs every spring for mass spawning. Because of weather and predators, many are "slaughtered" on the beach.

The name is so notorious that it drew the ire of PETA, which petitioned for a change to "Sanctuary Beach" in 2018. Slaughter Beach townsfolk, of which there are roughly 200, refused, with the mayor publicizing an alternative etymology: the town's original postman, whose surname was Slaughter. Yet another plausible origin is the Old English word "slohtre," meaning "muddy place." Regardless, Slaughter Beach being an animal sanctuary is a wonderfully quirky paradox.

Smyrna

Right outside the 13,000-person town of Smyra are a number of oddities, both sublime and scary. A nine-minute drive to another uniquely named Delaware location, Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, will reveal a tidal salt marsh and the Allee House, a national historic site older than the United States. Just north of this diverse refuge is another, called Cedar Swamp Wildlife Area, which housed an abandoned water tower that you could explore (at your own - and the resident owl's - risk) until it went up in flames in 2016. A short drive west, past the smaller town of Clayton, brings you to Crybaby Bridge in Maryland, which is said to be haunted by the ghost of a baby drowned by its mother. That rivals the Selbyville Swamp Monster in aquatic Delaware terror.

Rehoboth Beach

Rehoboth Beach, another Delaware "city" with a tiny resident population, has a huge tourist population thanks to its beaches, bars, nightclubs, amusement parks, and legendary LGBTQ+ scene. While going from one indulgence to another to another, you might have to walk past the Temperance Fountain, a now ironic monument to Rehoboth's puritanical past. The temperance movement, which promoted abstinence from drinking and other vices, was once active in Rehoboth, so much so that the Woman's Christian Temperance Union erected the fountain in 1929 to tempt would-be boozers with a much healthier alternative. Even more ironically, the fountain stopped working around 2020.

Bridgeville

Bridgeville, an interior Delaware town of 2,600, would be a normal quaint community, if it were not for one infamous festival. First held outside Milton in 1986, Punkin Chunkin is a fair and competition revolving around pumpkins and how far they can be tossed. Seriously. Through the '90s and '00s, many thousands traveled to rural Delaware to see which competitor's contraption would chunk a punkin the farthest. The event moved to Bridgeville in 2007, where it ran until 2016, when an air cannon exploded and injured two people, one critically. Following a hiatus and lawsuit (eventually dismissed), Punkin Chunkin moved out of Delaware. The 2023 contest took place near Vinita, Oklahoma. Now, antiques are about the quirkiest things you can find in Bridgeville unless Punkin Chunkin makes a smashing return.

Arden

Imagine an entire village pretending it was the 19th century. M. Night Shyamalan's The Village is the true story of Arden, Delaware.

That is hyperbole, of course, but Arden and adjoining Ardentown and Ardencroft were founded on - and adhere to - 19th-century philosophies of communal land and anti-industrialization. The result is a community of artists and craftspeople living in fairy tale homes on lush land that cannot be purchased, just leased for 99 years at a time. Interspersed are "gilds," Ardenspeak for clubs, where residents can dance, garden, and recite Shakespeare. Arden is so odd that it has an "Oddporium," which displays everything from a Cyclops pig to lobotomy tools. "You are welcome hither," Ardenites say, but only if you are sufficiently quirky.

You may have thought Delaware was too small to be quirky. But Delaware's quirkiness is in its size, particularly its small communities. Lewes, Milton, Slaughter Beach, Smyrna, Rehoboth Beach, Bridgeville, and Arden showcase the state at its most weird and wonderful. Are you ready to take the unbeaten path through Delaware? If you are, countless treasures await, but they might be too weird to show the family.