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The Junction and Breakwater Railroad was a 38 mile long railroad that ran between Harrington, Delaware and Lewes with a spur to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware during the late 19th and early 20th Century. It passed though Milford, Ellendale and Georgetown. In 1883, it merged with the Breakwater and Frankford Railroad and the Worcester Railroad to become the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Railroad which was eventually purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad
The Junction & Breakwater Railroad (J&B) was formed in 1857 as a subsidiary of the Old Dominion Steamship Company to operate in conjunction with steamship service between the Delmarva Peninsula and New York. [1] The line created a "junction" with the Delaware Railroad in Harrington, and by 1859 it had reached Milford, DE. [1] Work was stalled by the Civil War but resumed in 1867 and the line was completed to Lewes and the Delaware Breakwater, via Georgetown, by 1869 with stations at each end as well as stations in Cool Spring, Harbeson (later called Broadkill) and Nassau. [2] By 1878 it had built a 5 mile extension to Rehoboth. [1] In Rehoboth it eventually built connections to Canneries along the canal, factories along Laurel Street, a passenger station on Rehoboth avenue and a wye that connected to Henlopen Junction.
In 1874, the Breakwater & Frankford Railroad (B&F) built a connection to the J&B at Georgetown that ran from Georgetown to the Maryland line at Selbyville which opened on May 22, 1874. [3] By 1876, the Worcester Railroad had extended the line to Franklin City, Virginia. Both of these lines were also owned by Old Dominion Steamship. [1]
In 1883 the J&B merged with the B&F and Worcester to form the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Railroad (DMVR). In 1891 the DMVR defaulted on two mortgages and was taken over by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad at the request of the Delaware General Assembly. [4] Over time, the DMVR and other PW&B owned properties came to be known as the Delmarva Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
The tracks from Harrington to Harbeson are actively used for freight rail.
The historic Milford train station is still in use, but as office space.
The abandoned right-of-way from Fischer Road on the east side of Harbeson to just west of Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes was converted into the Lewes-Georgetown Trail and there are plans to extend it west to the end of the track in Harbeson.
The Harbeson Railroad Station privy, built in 1870, was donated to the Lewes Historical Society and moved to their campus by 2022. [5]
The old Lewes-Rehoboth Canal bridge, and the date stone from the west abutment, are on permanent display along the Lewes-Georgetown Trail at American Legion Road in Lewes. The bridge was a hand-cranked swing bridge that was originally built in 1869 and modernized by PRR in 1916. The bridge was reconstructed in 1997. After DelDot decided it was unsafe in 2016, leading to the rail line east of the canal being shut down, it was removed on Feb. 15, 2022 and the canal was restored over the next year. [6] [7] [8]
Some of the abandoned right-of-way from Lewes to Rehoboth Beach is used for the Junction and Breakwater Trail.
The Rehoboth Beach Train Station which was built in the late 1800s currently serves as Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center. It was in service until the 1920s. After that it served as offices, small shops and a restaurant until it was sold in 1950. It was donated to the city and the Rehoboth Railroad Station Preservation Society and moved to its present location at 501 Rehoboth Avenue in 1987. [7]
The Delmarva Peninsula, or simply Delmarva, is a large peninsula on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by the vast majority of the state of Delaware and parts of the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Eastern Shore of Virginia.
Sussex County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of Delaware, on the Delmarva Peninsula. As of the 2020 census, the population was 237,378, making it the state's second most populated county only behind New Castle and ahead of Kent. The county seat is Georgetown.
Lewes is an incorporated city on the Delaware Bay in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 3,303. Along with neighboring Rehoboth Beach, Lewes is one of the principal cities of Delaware's rapidly growing Cape Region. The city lies within the Salisbury, Maryland–Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. Lewes proudly claims to be "The First Town in The First State."
Milford is a city in Kent and Sussex counties in the U.S. state of Delaware. According to the 2020 census, the population of the city is 11,190 people and 4,356 households in the city.
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 Region and lies within the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 2011, the NRDC awarded Dewey Beach with a 5-Star rating in water quality. This award was given only to 12 other locations, one being neighboring Rehoboth Beach. Out of the 30 states with coastline, the Delaware Beaches ranked number 1 in water quality in 2011.
Ellendale is a town in Sussex County, Delaware, United States. The population was 487 at the 2020 census, an increase of 27.8% since the 2010 census, and a 48.9% increase since the year 2000. It is part of the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. Ellendale is the "Gateway to Delaware's Resort Beaches" because it is the town located on U.S. Route 113, the resort area's westernmost border, and Delaware Route 16, the resort area's northernmost border with the eastern border being the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean and the southern border being the state line with Maryland.
Milton is a town in Sussex County, Delaware, United States, on the Delmarva Peninsula. It is located on the Broadkill River, which empties into Delaware Bay. The population was 3,291 at the 2020 census.
Rehoboth Beach is a city on the Atlantic Ocean along the Delaware Beaches in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. As of 2020, its population was 1,108. Along with the neighboring coastal town of Lewes, Rehoboth Beach is one of the principal cities of Delaware's rapidly growing Cape Region. Rehoboth Beach lies within the Salisbury metropolitan area.
U.S. Route 113 (US 113) is a U.S. Highway that is a spur of US 13 in the U.S. states of Maryland and Delaware. The route runs 74.75 miles (120.30 km) from US 13 in Pocomoke City, Maryland, north to Delaware Route 1 (DE 1) in Milford, Delaware. In conjunction with DE 1, US 113 is one of two major north–south highways on the Delmarva Peninsula that connect Dover with Pocomoke City and the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The U.S. Highway is the primary north–south highway in Worcester County, Maryland, where it connects Pocomoke City with Snow Hill and Berlin. US 113 is one of three major north–south highways in Sussex County, Delaware, where it connects Selbyville, Millsboro, and Georgetown with Milford. While US 113 does not pass through Ocean City or the Delaware Beaches, the U.S. Highway intersects several highways that serve the Atlantic seaboard resorts, including US 50, Maryland Route 90 (MD 90), US 9, DE 404, DE 16, and DE 1. US 113 is a four-lane divided highway for its whole length.
The Junction and Breakwater Trail is a 6-mile (9.7 km) long rail trail located on the southwestern side of Cape Henlopen State Park connecting Lewes and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, United States. It is the third rail trail built in Delaware and it is the longest in the state. It partially follows the former Junction and Breakwater Railroad's Rehoboth Beach branch that opened in the mid-19th century. It later came under control of the Pennsylvania Railroad and transported passengers to several Methodist resort camps along the Atlantic coast. The line was abandoned by the Penn Central in the early 1970s.
Delaware Route 14 (DE 14) is a state highway in the southern part of Kent County, Delaware. The route runs from the Maryland state line near Burrsville, Maryland, where the road continues as Maryland Route 317 (MD 317), east to DE 1 in Milford. The route passes through Harrington, where it intersects U.S. Route 13 (US 13), and heads to the north of Houston before coming to Milford, where it intersects DE 15, US 113, and DE 1 Business. DE 14 has a truck bypass of Harrington known as DE 14 Truck.
Delaware Route 18 (DE 18) is a state highway located in Sussex County, Delaware. It runs from Maryland Route 318 (MD 318) at the Maryland border east of Federalsburg, Maryland, east to U.S. Route 9 (US 9) in Georgetown. DE 18 runs concurrent with DE 404 from its intersection with that highway southeast of Bridgeville to the eastern terminus, where DE 404 continues eastward to Five Points on US 9. The route passes through rural areas of western Sussex County. What would become DE 18 was built as a state highway in stages during the 1920s and 1930s. By 1936, DE 18 was designated to run from the Maryland border east through Georgetown to Lewes. In 1974, the route east of Georgetown was replaced by US 9 and US 9 Business. DE 404 was designated concurrent with the eastern portion of DE 18 by 1987.
The Queen Anne's Railroad was a railroad that ran between Love Point, Maryland, and Lewes, Delaware during the late 19th and early 20th Century. It connected to Baltimore via ferry across the Chesapeake Bay, to Cape May, New Jersey via a ferry across the Delaware Bay and to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware via another railroad. It was the last major railway built on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The rail line changed owners several times during its history. In the 20the century, the railway struggled to compete with the automobile and service was cutback. Over time, sections of the railroad were abandoned.
U.S. Route 9 (US 9) is a United States Numbered Highway in the Northeastern U.S., running from Laurel, Delaware, north to Champlain, New York. In Delaware, the route runs a southwest–northeast path through Sussex County. Even though US 9 is signed north–south for the remainder of its route, the segment in Delaware is signed east–west. The highway runs from its western terminus at US 13 in Laurel northeast to the Cape May–Lewes Ferry terminal in Lewes, where the ferry carries the route across the Delaware Bay to North Cape May, New Jersey. US 9 passes through rural areas and serves the communities of Laurel, Georgetown, and Lewes. US 9 intersects Delaware Route 20 (DE 20) in Hardscrabble, US 113 and DE 18/DE 404 in Georgetown, DE 30 in Gravel Hill, DE 5 in Harbeson, and DE 1 at the Five Points intersection in Nassau. US 9 runs concurrent with DE 404 between Georgetown and Five Points and with DE 1 between Five Points and Carpenters Corner.
The Henlopen Conference is a high school sports conference comprising public schools in Kent County and Sussex County in lower Delaware. The teams participate in a variety of sports including football, boys and girls soccer, track and field, cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls indoor track, boys and girls outdoor track, wrestling, boys and girls lacrosse, baseball, softball, cheerleading, boys and girls swimming, and field hockey.
The Delaware Coast Line Railroad was a short-line railroad located in Sussex County, Delaware. The company operated two lines on track owned by the State of Delaware: one running from Ellendale east to Milton and another running from Georgetown east to Cool Spring. The railroad interchanged with the Delmarva Central Railroad in Ellendale and Georgetown. It was owned by Dan Herholdt. Part of the rail lines were taken over by the Delmarva Central Railroad.
The Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Railroad is a defunct American railroad that operated passenger service from Broad Street Station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Franklin City, Virginia in the late 19th Century and most of the 20th Century. At the latter city, steamship connections could be made to Chincoteague, Virginia on the Atlantic Ocean-side exterior islands.
The Delmarva Central Railroad is an American short-line railroad owned by Carload Express that operates 188 miles (303 km) of track on the Delmarva Peninsula in the states of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. The railroad operates lines from Porter, Delaware to Hallwood, Virginia and from Harrington, Delaware to Frankford, Delaware along with several smaller branches. The DCR interchanges with the Norfolk Southern Railway and the Maryland and Delaware Railroad. The railroad was created in 2016 to take over the Norfolk Southern Railway lines on the Delmarva Peninsula. The DCR expanded by taking over part of the Bay Coast Railroad in 2018 and the Delaware Coast Line Railroad in 2019.
The Lewes-Georgetown Trail is an 11 mile long rail trail built on the right-of-way of the abandoned portion of the Junction and Breakwater Railroad between Georgetown, Delaware and Lewes, Delaware. It currently exists in three segments: a 0.7 mile rail-with-trail section between Parsons Lane and Airport Road in Georgetown, a 7.5 mile rail-to-trail section from Fischer Road on the east side of Cool Spring, Delaware, to the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal in Lewes, and a 1.6 mile rail-to-trail section from the canal to Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes.
The Delmarva Division is the set of railroads on the Delmarva Peninsula of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia that were part of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) through most of the 20th Century. The lines were built by several different companies and then eventually consolidated under the control of the PRR and later the Penn Central Railroad. Throughout the 20th Century some of the rail lines were abandoned and following the bankruptcy of Penn Central and break-up on Conrail ownership changed many times.