Bethany Beach History 

The founding of this little town by the sea is an often ignored accomplishment of members of the Christian Church, also known as the Disciples of Christ, of the Washington, D.C. area and Pennsylvania. They settled here in an era when the popular summer camp meetings sometimes led to permanent towns with religious names along the Atlantic. A nationwide competition led to the naming of Bethany and the winner, H. L. Atkinson, of the University of Chicago, received an ocean-front lot as his prize. Today Bethany may not be exactly as its founders dreamed in 1901 as they sought a gathering place on the Atlantic: "A suitable tract of land for a permanent yearly seaside assembly for the Christian Churches of this country." Yet in many ways Bethany reflects the character stamped on it by those early settlers, who in the words of a founding father, Dr. F. D. Power, Washington minister, were looking for "a haven of rest for quiet people," presenting a "safe and rational way of spending the heated term." Today sea and sand lovers of many persuasions are still searching for serenity and solace and rationality for that "heated term." It no longer takes two days to get here from Pittsburgh or a whole day from Washington, as some old timers remember. Ice is no longer kept back on the Evans pond to refrigerate the summer's fish and chicken. Fogging machines, not bullfrogs, are now expected to keep the mosquito population down. Gone are the songs, the poetry and the cheers and the Bethany Herald. There is no ban on Sunday bathing and sales of tobacco, candy and soft drinks. And gone too is the octagonal auditorium known as "The Tabernacle," (1) once a landmark in the vast assembly Grounds (2) of the Christian Missionary Society at the town's entrance.  

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