The Cape Henlopen Region, or the Cape Region, is a region in Sussex County, in southern Delaware, on the Delmarva Peninsula. The region is part of the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. The region takes its name from Cape Henlopen, as does the Cape Henlopen School District and

Cape Henlopen State Park Cape Henlopen State Park is a Delaware state park on on Cape Henlopen in Sussex County, Delaware, in the United States. William Penn made the beaches of Cape Henlopen one of the first public lands established in what has become the United ...

. Much of the region's populated areas are found along the Delaware Bay, Rehoboth Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Northern and western parts of the Cape Region are rural areas dominated by farmland and wetlands. The area is often referred to as the Delaware Beaches.

Geography

The Cape Region is situated on the

Atlantic Coastal Plain The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

. A large portion of the region is low-lying Southern

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s and

wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

, notably found in Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge,

, and along

Delaware Route 1 Delaware Route 1 (DE 1) is the longest numbered state highway in the U.S. state of Delaware. The route runs from the Maryland state line in Fenwick Island, Sussex County, where the road continues south into that state as Maryland R ...

within Delaware Seashore State Park. There are several navigable waterways that flow through the region: **Bald Eagle Creek ** Broadkill River **Herring Creek ** Lewes and Rehoboth Canal **Love Creek **Old Mill Creek **Red Mill Pond **Wagamons Pond **White Oak Creek

Climate

Situated on the

, Rehoboth Beach's weather is moderated by the Atlantic Ocean, Delaware Bay and the Rehoboth Bay. Rehoboth Beach has a mild subtropical climate consisting of hot, humid summers and mild winters. The average daytime high in July is 87 °F (30.6 °C) and a low of 70 °F (21 °C); in January, the average high is 45 °F (7 °C) with an average low of 30 °F (-1 °C) Average Weather for Rehoboth Beach, DE - Temperature and Precipitation
/ref> The month of highest average rainfall is July with 4.78 inches of rain, while February is historically the driest month, receiving an average of only 3.23 inches (80.5 mm) of rain. The highest official temperature ever recorded in Rehoboth Beach was 102 °F (38.8 °C) in 1997. The lowest official temperature ever recorded in Rehoboth Beach was -11 °F (-28.8 °C) in 1982.

Communities

Cities

Rehoboth Beach boardwalk looking north toward Rehoboth Avenue

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

(Principal city) * Rehoboth Beach

Towns

Dewey Beach Dewey Beach is an incorporated coastal town in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the town is 341, an increase of 13.3% over the previous decade. It is part of the rapidly growing Cape ...

Henlopen Acres Henlopen Acres is a municipality north of Rehoboth Beach in Sussex County, Delaware, United States, and is the third smallest incorporated town in Delaware. According to 2010 census figures, the population of the town is 122, a 12.2% decrease from ...

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

Unincorporated places

* Angola * Belltown *

Broadkill Beach Broadkill Beach is an unincorporated beach community in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of Delaware, located on the Delaware Bay north of the mouth of the Broadkill River. It is part of the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistica ...

* Cool Spring *Five Points *

Hollymount Hollymount () is a village on the R331 regional road in County Mayo, Ireland. It lies midway between the towns of Ballinrobe and Claremorris in the plains of south Mayo. It has a post office, a mini-mart, a community centre (Cois Abhainn), a ...

* Hollyville * Jimtown * Midway * Nassau * Pinetown * Quakertown

Demographics

Because the Cape Region is not a precisely defined political area, there is no demographic data for the region specifically. At the 2010 Census, the approximate total population of the Cape Region was 41,584 which is an increase of 10,998 (35%) from 30,856 in the 2000 Census. The Cape Region tends to be more affluent than western parts of Sussex County.

Politics

The majority of the area generally identified as the Cape Region is located in Delaware's 6th Senate district, with the sparsely populated southwestern communities of Hollyville and Hollymount located in

Delaware's 19th Senate district Delaware's 19th Senate district is one of 21 districts in the Delaware Senate. It has been represented by Republican Brian Pettyjohn since 2012. Geography District 19 covers central Sussex County, including the communities of Georgetown, B ...

. The region is split among five districts in the Delaware House of Representatives, those being the 4th, 14th, 27th, 36th, and 37th House of Representatives districts. Due to growth in the area outpacing growth in the rest of the state, the 4th House of Representatives district was moved in the 2021 redistricting from the Wilmington area to the Cape Region.https://delawarelive.com/proposed-house-redistricting-offers-more-changes-than-senate/ On the local level, the City of Lewes has a Mayor and City Council; Rehoboth Beach, Dewey Beach, and Henlopen Acres have a Mayor and Board of Commissioners; and Milton has a Mayor and Town Council.

References

External links

Cape GazetteCape Henlopen Regional PlanCape Henlopen School District
* ttp://www.sussexcountyde.gov/ Sussex County Government* ttp://legis.delaware.gov/legislature.nsf/7f4f680c99e8e0d1852569c10055e9d4/394a567f51eac30d852569d8005369f0/$FILE/Final-2012-Senate%20District%2006.pdf/ District 6 Map {{DEFAULTSORT:Cape Region (Delaware) Geography of Sussex County, Delaware