a gay beach in delaware is getting an official state historical marker. on the sand. they had to figure out how.

A 1944 Rehoboth Beach postcard. Image: Steve Shook, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

via the Delaware Public Archives and Metro Weekly

Delaware has erected more than 700 state historical markers since the 1930s, according to the Delaware Public Archives, and markers usually go "on the side of the road and on concrete," as the state archivist put it. The newest one goes on the sand at the gay end of the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk.

The state will unveil a marker recognizing Poodle Beach at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29, at the corner of Prospect Street and the South Boardwalk. The Archives' announcement calls it "a landmark in Delaware's LGBTQ history," a place "where people could build community, celebrate identity, and enjoy a sense of belonging." The ceremony is free and open to the public.

It was supposed to happen in June. State archivist Maegan Peterman told Metro Weekly the delay came down to an "atypical installation." Sand, it turns out, is not concrete. Community members applied for the marker in 2020, she said.

The history, per Metro Weekly: from the mid-20th century, LGBTQ beachgoers gathered near the Carpenter family's "Shell House" in Dewey Beach, south of the boardwalk. With no gay bars in Rehoboth then, the beach was the daytime meeting spot before the house parties. By the late 1970s the crowd had moved to Poodle Beach, which for years hosted an annual Labor Day drag volleyball game. Nobody is quite sure where the name came from; one local story credits two gay cousins and their poodles.

A state plaque for a beach famous for drag volleyball. Some years it is the small things.