World War II Observation Tower, Cape Henlopen, DE

[CC Rider]

A network of numerous concrete and steel bunkers and observation towers were quickly erected across the tiny State of Delaware's coastline in the 1940s in an effort to keep an eye on German U-Boat patrols that were coming into the Atlantic Ocean and into the Delaware Bay approaching Philadelphia to the North during World War II, and to be prepared for the eventuality of a German land invasion.

Many of these structures still exist and have become summer tourists attractions in what are now State Park lands. This photo shows one of those once-vital observation towers surrounded by our first snowfall of 2017. The temps were down to about 19F yesterday late afternoon and the H performed just fine with normal battery life throughout the flight.

 

[shoestring]

There is a German POW camp about 15 miles north of here. There is not much left today.

 

[CC Rider]

Interesting. Within the U.S., I'm assuming, right? This site in Delaware was called Fort Miles, located near "The First Town in The First State" called Lewes, settled by the Swedes in the 1600s and originally called "The Valley of the Swans} by them, for obvious reasons.

Today Fort Miles serves a variety of functions, including being the homebase for the (former vice-president) Joe Biden Environmental Studies Center (I think that's the right name of it). It's situated on a tract of beachland famous for it's approaching and retreating, ever-changing beach dunes, which are impressive in a flat region like Delaware. Nearby public beaches bring summer tourists flocking to the area, mostly from regional urban centers like Wilmington, DE, Baltimore/Washington, D.C. and the Philadelphia vicinity. Most of them are totally unaware of the area's former military importance.

Unfortunately, a lot of people are very unaware of their local area's history - or even their own family history - and so they miss out on a lot as a result. No matter where you go, people have been there, and wherever people have been they've left behind some kind of history worth remembering, for good or for ill. One of the attractions of drones to me is the ability they give you to literally get a whole new perspective on the lay of the land, its usage, and the people and things dwelling upon it, past and present.