(BOWERS BEACH, Del.) - Visitors looking to explore Bowers Beach can expect to be told that the best way to see the small town is on a walking tour.
That's what we did for this week's WRDE on Tour with Charlie Irons, a bonafide born-and-bred Bowers Beach native.
"That was where the last post office was in Bowers Beach," Irons said as he pointed out to several buildings, homes and vacant plots of lands that once looked very different from its current use today.
Irons has stories for days about the town's history that sometimes sounds like it could come from a cartoon western.
From steamboats bringing in vacationers...
"We had two steamers come in here several times a week from Philadelphia. We had the John P. Wilson and the Steamship Frederica," said Irons, who reminisced about the days when Bowers Beach was a resort town for Philadelphia's factory workers looking to get away for the weekend.
Hotels with rowdy reputations...
"Coming up here where the blue place is, this is the famous Heartbreak Hotel area. It is wildly known for the revelry that took place here," said Irons as he laughed remembering the hotel's rowdiness.
"The arguments and the fights, the brawls. It did give bowers beach a spot on the map for a while. It got to be so cantankerous in there that air base forbid their people from coming down here," he said.
Pirates sailing the Delaware Bay....
"People say, 'What's Bowers Beach got to do with pirates?' Well there is some historical evidence that at one time pirates did roam the Delaware Bay. Historical fact," Irons asserted. "Did they step where we are right now? Don't know. Did they step on that beach down there? Possibly."
Then there's the part of Bowers Beach's history that you can't read about in textbooks.
"To your left, that little gray house was Ms. Lida. We used to go in back of her house and steal grapes off the grape barber. She was known as the cat lady in town. She must've had 50 cats," said Irons as he recalled childhood memories of times past.
Bowers has reinvented itself over and over again through the years. From a working class resort town, to a well-known fishing town and oyster hub, then reviving itself as a modern resort town again today.
The town's changes can raise one's curiosity as to what natives like Charlie think about Bowers' fading quaint charm as newer, bigger, more expensive homes are built on top of the modest homes that used to exist in town.
"I used to be one of those people. I really did. I didn't like the change. But you got to realize, things change," he explained, "if things don't change, they disappear."
The same can almost be said of the town's history, which has seen many changes over time and could be at risk of losing details and traditions through the generations. But as Bowers continues to reinvent itself, its original history remains an intriguing part of the town's character that attracts visitors to want to learn more.