Join us on an aerial tour!
Lewes Beach, for the purposes of real estate searches on the MLS is the area bordered by the canal to the east and includes homes which are outside of planned, or gated neighborhoods.
A wide range of homes both in age, style and size makes Lewes Beach feel less stuffy than some other resort towns. While there are larger homes standing alongside cottages, the houses generally blend well together and the lots are zoned with setback requirements imposed by the city.
All roads and beach entrances are publicly accessible, yet most Lewes Beach day trippers tend to park at the Lewes city beach lot and Cape Henlopen State Park. The Lewes Beach lot at the end of Savannah Road has lifeguards during the summer months and also rules and regulations about its use.
Take an aerial tour! LEWES BEACH FROM ABOVE
Lewes Beach and Leased Land
One confusing feature that newcomers discover about Lewes Beach property is that the land is technically not held "in fee simple" (outright) but on "leased land." For most properties that sit on leased land (i.e., with every other development in this county that we know of including anything on Dewey Beach that sits on leased land), the homeowners pay an annual, quarterly, or monthly fee to a private landowner for a set period of time, for the right to keep their homes on such land. The landowner may choose to renew the lease at the end of such period or not.
This is NOT the case with Lewes Beach. Due to the way the land was originally chartered (way back in the late 1600s or early 1700s) the City of Lewes will technically always own all land east of the Lewes Canal and leases each lot on this land to homeowners in 99-year renewable leases. These leases automatically renew after 99 years - homeowners need not worry about buying a home and not being able to keep it beyond the 99-year period. If a Lewes Beach property changes ownership during its 99=year lease period, the lease continues to its 99 year mark and is renewed at that time (it is not automatically "reset" with each change in ownership). The cost of the annual land lease is part of the annual city taxes for that property.