LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
CAMP Memories: Rehoboth's Gay History Sunny Days and Party Nights at Carpenter Beach |
by Fay Jacobs and Libby Stiff |
This is one article in a series of remembrances, oral histories and tales of the way we were in gay Rehoboth during the Twentieth Century. The short vignettes are based on interviews, newspaper clippings and whatever lore has been passed down through the years in our gay-friendly town. Talking to folks who've been in Rehoboth for twenty years or more, you begin to learn just how far back our gay history goes. People who started to settle here in the late 1970's learned from their elders of a gay mecca here from the 1930's on"although we weren't called gay then. We were still homosexuals," jokes one Rehoboth veteran. Lore has it that the Dupont property, which sat ocean front at Silver Lake, was where it all began. According to Rehoboth resident Tony Burns, it seems that Louisa Dupont Carpenter, while married to a prominent businessman, was a flamboyant and very independent woman who enjoyed the lesbian lifestyle. An aviatrix and adventurer, Carpenter was a great friend of the Broadway and Hollywood star Tallulah Bankhead whose family lived on the Eastern Shore of Maryland off Chesapeake Bay. Louisa, Tallulah and many of their male friends gathered in Rehoboth in the late 1930's and 40's at the family estate between Silver Lake and the Atlantic Ocean. According to reports from those who were there, it was a very cultured, very sophisticated gay scene and the tradition continued for years. Hundreds of older men would gather at what became known as Carpenter Beach to relax on the sand, set up chess and backgammon boards and play volleyball. In the 1950's, and well into the '60's and early 70's, since there were no specifically gay bars to frequent, the scene moved exclusively between beach and private house parties. Even if there was a welcoming bar, liquor laws at the time prevented anyone, gay or straight with walking around carrying a drink. Under those circumstances, even if gays gathered at a gay tolerant establishment "it was almost impossible to meet anyone other than the fellow sitting right beside you" says one veteran of the former Pink Pony bar at the Boardwalk and Maryland Avenue. As Rehoboth was honing its reputation as the Nation's Summer Capitol, with Washington D.C. legislators and government workers vacationing here with their families each summer, so too were the hundreds of gay government employees seeking anonymity for their beach vacations here. With the hideous threat of exposure, that could lead to loss of employment, or even imprisonment, most of these vacationing gays kept strictly to their area of the beach and partied only at their closest friends' homes. Each weekend, small dinner parties, many formal and elegant, were held in the numerous homes around Rehoboth Beach which harbored the very discreet, very chic gay crowd. This underground network communicated quite clandestinely in Washington D.C. during the week, arranging the parties and overnight guest accommodations, and came to Rehoboth on the weekends to gather in an atmosphere relatively free from threats of exposure. The traditions continued almost unchanged through the 1960's and early 1970's. Louisa Dupont Carpenter was a fixture here during much of that time, until she flew her plane into a fatal crash at the Georgetown Airport in the early 1970's. So why doesn't Rehoboth's current gay population still gather at the site of Carpenter Beach? According to Tony Burns, back in 1982, two gay cousins, fixtures in the thriving gay beach community simply got fed up with walking so far past the Rehoboth boardwalk to make camp. One day, they spread their blankets on the sand just past the boardwalk. Soon, their friends and companions joined them, taking a bit of a stand on the sand. Within weeks, many of the people who camped at Carpenter Beach began to congregate at this new, more convenient stretch of sand. For years after that, a group of old-timers held their ground on the beach opposite Silver Lake, chess and backgammon still going strong. But ultimately, the shift became permanent and what we now call Poodle Beach was born. Can you tell us more about these and other Gay Rehoboth memories? Rehoboth residents and visitors wishing to contribute their recollections, photos or other printed matter, may contact the authors through CAMP Rehoboth, or email Fay at mvnoozy@aol.com or Libby at lstiff@hotmail.com. We'd love to hear from you! On Wednesday, May 31, Joyce Felton hosted a party in honor of Victor Pisapia, her former partner at the Blue Moon and other well-known restaurants in Rehoboth Beach and Wilmington. Victor now lives in Sydney, Australia where he owns the Rattlesnake Grill, a restaurant specializing in the flavours of the American Southwest. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 10, No. 6, June 2, 2000. |