Chapter 1: Introduction

Welcome everyone to my Geography 321 Blog.  My blog will focus on Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and how it relates to each chapter we cover in class.  I have chosen this place as the focus of my blog for several reasons.  The main reason being that I have family who live in the area, and have spent a decent amount of time over the years actually visiting the area.  It is a very different atmosphere from my hometown of Santa Clarita, CA and I always enjoyed getting to visit my family in Delaware.

As noted above, Rehoboth Beach is located in Delaware along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.  Delaware itself is a relatively small state; however, its claim to fame is that it was the 1st state to ratify the constitution, and thus became known as the first state in the United States.  Despite the small size, Delaware is home to one of the most popular summertime beach locations nationwide.  This summertime frenzy city is Rehoboth Beach of course.  Rehoboth Beach is only 1.6 square miles in size, and that includes about 0.5 square miles of water.  Rehoboth Beach's population is only 1398 according to 2013 data.  However, this number only counts residents that actually live in the city the majority of the year.

Rehoboth Beach during the Summer

 During summer, this number grows to over 25,000 within the city limits and thousands more in the neighboring areas.  This number may seem small at first, but i can assure you that during summer every inch of Rehoboth Beach's roughly 1 square mile of land is packed with people on vacation.  After the summer season, Rehoboth Beach becomes a rather quiet little city occupied by the roughly 1400 people living in the area.  Many businesses along the coast are seasonal, and those that do remain open often offer big discounts to draw people in.  Besides the beaches, Rehoboth Beach is also home to an outlet shopping mall.  It remains open year round, but the difference from summer to winter is drastic.  

Rehoboth Beach is a unique little city along the coast.  It thrives during the summer and becomes almost desolate in the winter.  Having been there in the both the summer and winter, I can honestly say it goes from being packed with people everywhere along the streets and beach to absolutely deserted.  There are many reasons why this occurs, such as the weather throughout the seasons  Throughout future posts, this idea, and other factors that play into it will be discussed further.  Additionally, we will look at other parts of Rehoboth Beach and see what makes it so unique.  

I hope you enjoy reading future posts and learn more about Rehoboth Beach.  Who knows, you may just want to visit sometime.  Next week's Topic will cover The environmental setting of Rehoboth Beach

Until next time,

William