Slaughter Beach

[rdlr]

In Bowers Beach, time is better spent sitting on the dock at JP's on the Wharf. Very relaxing watching the sun set and the fishing boats slowly approaching the dock to unload their catches. Beats all the hustle-bustle beach nonsense any time.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

I have to ask as I keep seeing the thread listed when I turn on City Data Forum.

Where did the name Slaughter Beach come from? Did something happen there to give the place such a name? Was it people or animals that were slaughtered? Sorry, but the name doesn't sound like a beach name to me. LOL

[pete lynch]

Nobody really knows but here a few stories:

There are at least three stories of where the town's name came from: The first is that it was named after William Slaughter, a local postmaster in the mid-19th century. The second story claims “the name came from the horseshoe crabs that wash up on shore and die each year. They come near shore to shallow water to lay their eggs and the low tide strands them leaving them to die, thus the "slaughter.""[citation needed] The third story, and the most contested source of the town's name, stems from a local legend which tells of a man named Brabant who, in the mid-18th century, "slaughtered" several indigenous inhabitants by cannon in order to prevent an impending massacre.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughter_Beach,_Delaware

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by pete lynch

Nobody really knows but here a few stories:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughter_Beach,_Delaware

Thank you for sharing that. OK I guess I could have looked it up. I find it interesting when I bounce around City Data Forum or when I am traveling, to learn about a place especially when it has an interesting name.

[Pocopsonite]

One of my favorite Delaware place names has always been the Murderkill River. I know "kill" means river, but I never knew the derivation of the "murder" part.

So I Googled for more on that:
https://davidhealeyauthor.com/2016/0...t-their-names/
There's also info on Slaughter Beach and Whorekill, which was apparently an early name for Lewes. That was new to me; I'd only heard about Zwaanendael.

Gotta say, Googling sometimes just muddies the waters: here's an article that refutes most of the info in the above reference:
Delaware Backstory: The Murderkill River doesn't have a grisly past

Doesn't really matter, I guess -- just fun to read historians' speculations.