Woodland Beach and Wildlife Area

Raise your hand if you’ve heard of Woodland Beach. Now raise your hand if you’ve been there. Not too many of you? Unfortunately, the area has earned itself a reputation of being a bit sketchy. I myself avoided it for quite awhile but now I’m kicking myself for doing so because it really is a neat place. It is quite literally, the end of the road (route 6 to be exact) and is sort of isolated. You’ll have to check out the tide chart before heading here as the road tends to flood and the beach is nearly gone at high tide. During storms or heavy precipitation, the residents of Woodland beach quite frequently get stranded during high tide and oftentimes need to evacuate.

I wouldn’t consider the beach to be good for swimming, as bay beach water is typically pretty brown and muddy, but you can go barefoot and dip your toes in as you go. There weren’t too many shells to be found when we visited, but it was quite busy there so it is likely that they were picked over before we arrived. There’s a pretty nice fishing pier and porta potties on site (for emergencies.)

Aside from being isolated and the closest beach to where we live, the other cool thing about Woodland Beach is its history. What now looks like a tiny fishing community, once was THE hangout spot. In the 1800’s that is. There was an amusement park and hotel that drew crowds from all over.

The beach is definitely worth a visit (or many) but beware of Delaware’s state bird…the mosquito. I jest, but seriously, it can get buggy out there. I find that it’s best to visit on a breezy and/or cool day. It’s hit or miss when it comes to the amount of blood that will be drawn during your time there, but we had an awesome experience with NO bugs when we went, so it is possible!

Right around the corner from the beach is Woodland Beach Wildlife Management Area. For most people, it’s just an area to drive though, but for us, it’s a place worth visiting. There’s a great boardwalk and a trail that loops around a pond for some primo bird watching. We saw osprey hunting, an eagle (and an eagle’s nest!), ducks, egrets and more. There was plenty of evidence of other inhabitants which the boys had a great time spotting.

There are porta potties on site as well plus a covered picnic area. The Aquatic Resources Education Center is located here and serves as a field trip destination for our local schools. There also seems to be a canoe/kayak launch site, but so far I haven’t been able to find much info on how to go about renting them.

My suggestion is to make the beach and wildlife area a double adventure and stop at both on the same day!