Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge: A Quieter Alternative to Bombay Hook

 

An egret takes flight in Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge

In April we visited Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge. Like Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Prime Hook was established as a sanctuary for migratory birds. Prime Hook is much smaller and quieter than Bombay, making it a more peaceful experience. Unlike Bombay Hook, there’s no fee to visit.

The name Prime Hook comes from Dutch settlers who found purple beach plums here and called the area Priume Hoek, meaning Plum Point. (UPDATE 9/11/2021: Read more about beach plums here.)

As this map shows, Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge covers a ten-mile stretch of the Delaware Bayshore. But the refuge does not include the shoreline. The shoreline is occupied by Slaughter Beach, Fowler Beach, Prime Hook Beach, and Broadkill Beach. Those communities were established before Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1963.

There are several access points into the wildlife refuge. The one of interest to most visitors is off Broadkill Beach Road. Take Turkle Pond Road to the visitors center.

Visitors Center at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge

The visitors center was closed because of the pandemic when we visited. But there are information kiosks, restrooms, and a picnic pavilion.

Picnic pavilion at Prime Hook

There’s also a gourd birdhouse.

 

Gourd birdhouse at Prime Hook

Prime Hook has six short walking trails plus a canoe/kayak trail. An online map can help you plan which ones to take. The wildlife refuge has color-coded trail markers that make it easy to find your way. Dogs are permitted on the trails.

One of Prime Hook's color-coded trail markers

We first took the Boardwalk Trail, a half-mile loop that passes Morris Cemetery. The Morris family once lived here.

Morris Cemetery in Prime Hook

We saw several great egrets near the Boardwalk Trail.

Egrets along Prime Hook's Boardwalk Trail

We then took the Dyke Trail, a half mile each way. It first goes along (surprise!) a dyke that is the Canoe Trail.

Dyke along Prime Hook's Dyke Trail

Later on we saw a large black bird that we couldn’t identify.

A large black bird on the top of the right tree

The dead trees show how the Delaware Bayshore’s wetlands are changing. The wetlands are largely estuaries, where fresh water from rivers and streams mix with salt water from the bay. As sea levels rise and the land sinks because of something called land subsidence, the water in the estuaries is becoming saltier. Some trees and other plants that once thrived in the estuary can’t survive in the saltier water.

Right alone the Dyke Trail was a tree that I suspect has been damaged by an enthusiastic woodpecker, though I could be wrong!

Woodpecker damage?

At the end of the Dyke Trail is a wheelchair-accessible wildlife viewing platform.

Viewing platform at the end of Prime Hook's Dyke Trail

From here we saw birds in the water, too far away for us to identify them.

Birds seen from Prime Hook's viewing platform

We also saw a kayaker and the houses of Broadkill Beach in the distance.

Broadkill Beach, seen from Prime Hook

And of course we saw another egret!

Another egret at Prime Hook

I've mentioned that Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge doesn’t extend to the Delaware Bay shoreline and that the shoreline is occupied by (from north to south) Slaughter Beach, Fowler Beach, Prime Hook Beach, and Broadkill Beach. I have separate blog posts on Slaughter Beach and Broadkill Beach.

Fowler Beach is a horseshoe crab sanctuary. It’s closed for wildbird nesting from March 1 through October 1, so we were unable to visit it when we stopped by in April. There are no “byway amenities” like restrooms there. 

Fowler Beach entrance, closed from March 1 through October 1

Prime Hook Beach is a private community not open to the public.

Sign at Prime Hook Beach

I did stop to get a quick photo of the beachfront.

Prime Hook Beach

In the middle of Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge is Prime Hook State Wildlife Management Area. I couldn’t find any information on it, and we didn’t visit it. From the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge map, it looks like it offers a boat launch and fishing.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Big Stone Beach: Tales of a Farming Failure, a Conservationist Recluse, and War

Image
  In many ways Big Stone Beach is like other beach hamlets along the Delaware Bay. There’s a row of houses facing the water, with a road behind them running parallel to the shoreline. The beach is great for beachcombing—there’s supposed to be sea glass along the shore. But the beach gets mucky in the water, so it isn’t great for swimming or walking barefoot.  But two things here are different. The first is a large tower. Observation tower at Big Stone Beach This was an observation tower used during World Wars I and II to watch for enemy ships. It’s the last of five such towers in Delaware. It was used to reinforce  Fort Saulsby , which was built near Slaughter Beach  for World War I and decommissioned after World War II.  There was indeed once a big stone out in the water, but it was destroyed during World War II. I’ve read two stories about why it was destroyed: either as target practice or out of fear that it would obscure sight of an enemy ship. Histor...
Read more

Augustine Beach: One of Delaware's Earliest Resorts

Image
Augustine Beach looking south In the 1800s, travel was difficult and expensive. For ordinary people in Philadelphia and Wilmington looking for a summertime getaway, their best option was to take a boat down the Delaware River to a riverside or bayside beach resort (see, for example, my blog posts on Collins Beach  and Woodland Beach ). Many of these resorts had boardwalks, dance halls, and other amusements. Some had hotels.   Augustine Beach, just south of Port Penn , was one of these beach resorts. The Augustine Beach Hotel was built around 1814, which makes it one of the oldest resorts on the river. A hundred bath houses were added in 1867, and the resort was most popular between 1870 and 1920. Vacationers reached it by taking a steamer from Philadelphia or Wilmington.  Augustine Beach Hotel, now Augustine Inn Seafood & Chop House The beach, across the street from the hotel, is very clean and pleasant. Augustine Beach looking north  The view is sadly marre...
Read more

Slaughter Beach: The Jewel of the Delaware Bay?

Image
  Some call Slaughter Beach the jewel of the Delaware Bay because of its beautiful setting. While we’ve enjoyed several other beaches along the Delaware Bay, this is indeed one of widest and longest, with a good two miles of beach along the bay. It's great for beachcombing and sunbathing, but there are a lot of pebbles, so it’s not great for wading, swimming or walking barefoot. Slaughter Beach looking south There are several  theories on why Slaughter Beach got its gruesome name. One is that the first postmaster here was named Slaughter. Another is that horseshoe crabs that come here to spawn every spring are often flipped over by waves and (unless flipped back by a volunteer) die, hence the “slaughter” of the horseshoe crabs. The most gruesome story is that early European settlers slaughtered local native Americans. [UPDATE 8/15/2021: I've learned yet another theory! In a letter to Delaware Online, Barbara Slavin, Ocean View Historical Society, says the name comes from t...
Read more