About the Byway
The Delaware Bayshore is widely recognized as an
area of global ecological and historic significance. It is
a
Migratory Shorebird
Site of Hemispheric Importance, a
Wetland of International
Significance and an
Important Bird Area of Global
Significance. Its
expansive coastal marshes, sandy shoreline, forest, fields and
agricultural lands provide habitat for more than 400 species of birds
and other wildlife. The Nature Conservancy and the National Audubon
Society recognize the region as globally significant wildlife habitat.
The Nature Conservancy has called
the Delaware Bayshore “one of the Earth's most important stopovers for
migratory birds.” The small towns along the Delaware Bayshore enjoy a
deep and rich heritage, which evolved from the early colonial
settlements and thriving maritime industries that thrived on the
abundant natural resources of the area.
The Delaware's Bayshore Byway extends for 52 miles
along State Route 9 from the City of New Castle in New Castle County, DE
to its junction with State Route 1 east of Dover on the east side of the
Dover Air Force Base in Kent County.
It includes two spurs of 2.5 miles each.
The first one connects the Village of Odessa to the Byway via
State Route 299. The second
is a loop consisting of Kitts Hummock Road and Bergold Lane that
connects the Byway to the John Dickinson Plantation, St. Jones Reserve
and the Ted Harvey Conservation Area.
Route 9 is an amalgam of roadways with different local names that
loosely parallel the Bayshore.
The story of the Delaware's Bayshore Byway is about
making a conscious decision to get off the crowded bustling highway of
modern America and letting your senses take in the majesty and power of
Mother Nature in the wildlife areas and coastal communities of
Delaware's Bayshore: Welcome
to Delaware's quieter and wilder side.
The Byway is only a few miles away from I-95, one
of the nation's busiest highways that serve millions of people from the
mid-Atlantic region and the Washington D.C. - New York City megalopolis
corridor. The Byway runs parallel to Delaware State Route 1, which
connects Delaware's two largest cities, Wilmington and Dover, to the
world-renowned Atlantic Ocean resort areas of Delaware's Coastal Sussex
County. Although the
majority of people speed along these major roadways, some residents and
travelers choose to leave the highway and take in the Route 9 experience
- "The road less traveled".
The Byway is defined by water.
The Delaware River and Bay border the eastern edge of the
Bayshore, with salt, brackish and freshwater marshes and many rivers and
streams of the coastal plain intersecting the Byway corridor.
Historically, water provided an easy mode of transportation, an
abundance of food and a key ingredient for agriculture.
The coastal plain's rich natural resources supported human beings
populating the area for over 12,000 years.
The area nurtured Native Americans, and then with the advent of
the new world exploration, settlers populated the easily accessible
land. They fished the
waters, and they farmed the land.
Small towns grew as water-dependent commerce developed.
Over time the villages and hamlets were connected by a series of
coastal roads, which today form the Byway.
As Delaware transitioned from a rural to industrial economy and
water transportation gave way to railroads and the automobile, Route 9
became a sleepy meandering road often cited as an experience in
serenity.
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