🏖️ Poodle Beach is officially part of Delaware history now.

🏖️ Poodle Beach is officially part of Delaware history now.

The Delaware Public Archives unveiled a new state historical marker Thursday at Prospect Street and the South Boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach, honoring the stretch of sand that has drawn LGBTQ residents and visitors since the 1930s.

The marker tells the story: south of the main crowds, people could gather here openly and safely. It took off in the late 1970s and picked up the name "Poodle Beach" — the marker admits nobody knows where the name came from. From 1988 to 2019 it hosted the annual Labor Day Drag Volleyball Game, drawing thousands.

Locals first applied for the marker in 2020. It's the first Delaware state historical marker dedicated to LGBTQ+ history — marker SC-289.

Worth a read next time you're at the south end of the boardwalk.

(Sources: Delaware Public Archives; Historical Marker Database.)

Photo: Devry Becker Jones (CC0), via the Historical Marker Database.

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