Find Slaughter Beach Real Estate

In stark contrast to Sussex County, Delaware's tourist-attracting, bustling beach towns, visitors will find peaceful seclusion and nature-rich preserves in the bay-front town of Slaughter Beach. The town was founded in 1631, and is believed to be named for William Slaughter, the town's first postmaster, and builder of Slaughter Station. Incorporated in 1931, and situated between Prime Hook Nature Preserve to the south, and the Mispillion Harbor/Dupont Nature Reserve and Visitor Center to the north, Slaughter Beach is home to the 5500-acre Milford Neck Wildlife Area, which hosts over 130 species. One of Slaughter Beach's famous migratory birds is the Red Knot, which visits Slaughter Beach as part of it's nine-thousand mile annual trip from it's arctic breeding grounds to the archipelago of Tierra del fuego, across South America's Straits of Magellan. Slaughter Beach also provides ideal breeding grounds for Terrapin turtles and thousands of horseshoe crabs, whose annual activities attract many tourists. In fact, Slaughter Beach is so well known for horseshoe crabs, that the town adopted the horseshoe crab as the symbol of their community.

Once home to a general store, and a liquor store, Slaughter Beach was decimated by a 1962 hurricane, which washed much of it's land area, homes and businesses away. Unlike it's southern neighbors like Bethany, Dewey and Rehoboth, Slaughter Beach doesn't beckon tourists with hotels, boardwalks or candy shops. Instead, you'll find the Slaughter Beach Mini Mart, the Memorial Volunteer Fire Department, and a quiet beach road with Delaware Bay-front homes on one side, and marshy-wetlands on the other. The tiny town is comprised of 1.3 square miles of land, and approximately 200 residents with a strong sense of community spirit. The fire department displays an outdoor community bulletin board, hosts town meetings, and provides fireworks each year on July 4th. Additionally, the town organizes an annual yard sale, and boasts a sailing club that hosts boat races.

Nearby points of interest include not only the nature preserves, but also Cape Henlopen State Park with it's walking trails, beaches, and unique World War II lookout towers. Another interesting sidetrip would be to the town of Shipcarpenter's Square for a glimpse of parts of the original Mispillion Lighthouse, which had been located near Slaughter Beach. Built in 1831, Mispillion Light has had numerous incarnations. Originally a wooden structure, it was rebuilt twice, replaced by a metal tower, burned by lightening in 2002, bought, sold, bought again, and ultimately dismantled and incorporated into a private residence. Since Mispillion light is now dismantled, Lighthouse Digest Magazine has removed it from their "America's Most Endangered Lighthouse" list.

Visitors to Slaughter Beach will certainly appreciate the history of this quaint beach town, and the pristine nature viewing that is available just outside their windows.