Georgetown, Del., March 31, 2009: Once-thriving gristmills, former plantations and quaint, historic churches dot the landscape of western Sussex County. Finding those sometimes out-of-the-way sites, though, can be an adventure unto itself. A proposed scenic route aims to change that.

County Council, at its Tuesday, March 31, 2009, meeting, agreed to sponsor an effort that would create a byway linking cultural sites in western Sussex County. Known as the Western Sussex Scenic and Historic Byway, the proposed route would help connect historic locations while promoting tourism in the area.

The route designation would extend more than 22 miles in the area of the U.S. 13 corridor, snaking its way on existing back roads from Bridgeville through Seaford and Bethel to Laurel.

Dan Parsons, county historic perseveration planner, said with the County’s sponsorship, an application to create the byway can now move forward to the Delaware Department of Transportation, which must approve such a designation. If DelDOT approves it, federal funds then will be sought to help draft a corridor management plan, a document which would identify ways to link and draw attention to historical landmarks along the route.

Other than staff time, no County funds would go toward the project, and property owners along the route would maintain their land development rights, Mr. Parsons said.

“The byway will help shed light on a portion of Sussex County’s culture that emerged along the Nanticoke River watershed, a portion which was, until after the Revolutionary War, a part of Maryland,” Mr. Parsons said. “We hope that this will bring people to the area and educate them on how the agrarian towns and sprawling farms along the route came to be, and how the passage of time has shaped and changed it.”

Unlike the eastern half of the county, western Sussex has no beaches to draw in visitors. But western Sussex does offer plenty of history in just a short drive, with sites including the Hearn and Rollins Mill, Cannon’s Ferry, the Governor Ross Mansion, Old Christ Church, and many others.

The application is the next step in what has already been a five-year process. In 2004, the Western Sussex Scenic and Historic Byway Citizens Committee, composed of interested citizens from the area, began efforts to boost tourism to their communities and local historic attractions.

With the Council’s decision Tuesday, Mr. Parsons said work to make the formal application of DelDOT will move forward. Meantime, the citizens committee that began work in 2004 will reform to take additional input from the communities.

Officials hope to have the application approved by March 2010.

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