Old Postcards and Vintage Images | Sussex County, Delaware

Postcards featuring areas of Delaware in the southern area of the First State. While Delaware is made up of just three counties -Sussex, Kent and New Castle - each one has many small towns which are distinctly different from one another. 

I recently began exploring many of the nearby places, visiting the historical society websites, walking and touring the main streets and soaking up the stories of yesteryear at their museums and community centers. Please enjoy the trip back in time with these postcards and don't miss the links at the bottom to other collections of photos and memories of the Delmarva Peninsula. Above: the Brick Hotel on the Circle in Georgetown in an old postcard, unfortunately without a date. Below: for comparison, here's a photo I took November '16 during the Return Day parade.

Sussex County Courthouse....no date but that car....?

Current view from the Circle (taken in 2017)

An older version of the Courthouse

"Tuckahoe Acres Camping Resort" in Dagsboro

Dated 1979

View of the sign and vintage campers

Post Office in Harrington

The Kent-Sussex County Fair I had to look up. "The Fairgrounds have been an integral part of life in and around Harrington since 1920 when a small group of entrepreneurs started the Kent & Sussex County Fair (name changed to the Delaware State Fair in 1962). Source

Rides at the Kent-Sussex County Fair. "The Delaware State Fair, as it is known today, began as an idea quietly conceived around a potbelly stove in the Harrington railroad station in 1919. The number of community-focused residents interested in starting this enterprise grew quickly as word of the plan leaked out. As the number who showed up for meetings grew, it became obvious that the railroad station could no longer serve as the meeting spot, and the group began to meet at the fire hall. The drive of these ambitious men helped formulate the Kent and Sussex County Fair which was incorporated in January 1920." Source

A "bathing beach" at Trap Pond in Laurel, at what is now Trap Pond State Park (and no swimming anymore....pollution)

Similar view of Trap Pond, taken October 2016

Sandy Cove camping area

Millville (near Bethany and Ocean View)

Main Street in Selbyville

Former senator's residence

Paperwork from Bunting Pontiac

Woody's Diner ....unfortunately no one seems to know anything about it...?

Another image of Tuckahoe Acres in Dagsboro

Postcard from 1983

Image of coastal Delaware, exact location unknown

1961 Beach advertising magazine