Beloved beach cottages stay in families for a century

There is no comparison between what Lewes Beach looks like today and what it looked like 100 years ago.

Yet, two beach cottages on Bay Avenue have survived the past century to provide countless family memories to five generations of the Ingram and Lupton-Keller families.

They are among the few (and maybe the only) families who have kept ownership of their beach cottages in the same families for a century.

The members gathered July 15 to celebrate those 100 years with a catered dinner, a slideshow of family photos, release of family history books and sporting events for children (and those young at heart).

Starts with land purchase

Their fascinating history at the beach, rooted in the history of Lewes, begins with a land purchase.

Paynter and Mollie Ingram bought three beach lots for $40 in 1923 and built the original Ingram cottage at 1010 Bay Ave.

The families have deep roots in Sussex County, with relatives in several well-known families.

Paynter sold an adjoining lot to his friend Albert Lupton at 1006 Bay Ave. the same year for $75. Both cottages were completed by September of that year. The Ingram cottage was built by Mollie's father, Walter Poynter, a master carpenter, and Edith and Albert Marsee Lupton hired contractor W. Rodney Robinson to build their house.

“For years, we thought he gave them the land, but they recently found a receipt for the sale,” said Sue Ingram Keller, who has connections to both families.

Sue is one of the three siblings who inherited the Ingram cottage and is married to Bert Keller, who is one of the siblings in the Lupton-Keller family. That union of the families occurred on the beach in front of the cottages Sept. 4, 2010.

Chances are both homes were built with lumber from the Ingram Lumber and Coal Company on Schley Avenue.

Sue, with help from relatives Comfort Anne and Woodruff Halsey, authored the Ingram family cottage history. Libby Owen has written a book on Lupton family history.

Sue said the Ingrams came close to losing their cottage in the 1930s. Her grandfather died in 1926, forcing her grandmother to rent out the cottage. She came close to selling it for $5,000.

The cottage was in need of repairs and maintenance, and that's when her uncle Homer Ingram stepped in. After World War II, he said he would provide upkeep if he could build a second-floor apartment and live there. And that's what happened.

Friends before cottages

The two families were friends long before they owned beach cottages. The Ingrams lived on Kings Highway and the Luptons lived on Market Street. The families had children around the same age.

The Ingrams’ son, Tony, and the Lupton's daughter, Virginia, were friends who went to school together at the old Lewes School on Savannah Road for the entirety of their education. Virginia later married Albert Keller to start that family linkage.

Once the cottages were built, the families picked up and moved to the beach for the summer. Since the Luptons didn't have a refrigerator at their cottage, they moved the one from their townside house to the cottage.

Road along the beach

In her history book of the Lupton cottage, Owen writes that the cinder road Bayview Avenue ran from Savannah Road in front of the houses along the beach. Garages were built with their doors facing the beach. The road ended about where the Ingram and Lupton cottages were built. Sidewalks were also placed along the road, and some remnants remain today.

No one is really sure when it happened, but sometime in the 1930s, Bayview Avenue was abandoned and traffic was moved to Bay Avenue, which was an alley behind the cottages.

Each spring and summer, beach homeowners routinely leveled the dune in front of their properties for a better view of Delaware Bay and better beach access.

In the mid-1960s, the state began planting beach grass on the dunes and instituted rules to keep people off the dunes, Owen said.

The cottages today

The downstairs of the Ingram cottage is owned by Anne Gonser, Anthony Paynter (Paynt) Ingram and Sue Ingram Keller, who are the children of Anthony (Tony) Paynter Ingram and Jean Cranston Chapin Ingram. The upstairs is owned by Niki Ingram Nieblas.

The Lupton-Keller cottage is owned by the family of Jim Keller, who is deceased, Bert Keller, Ginger Keller Beaverson and Libby Keller Owen.

The families contribute equally to the upkeep and costs associated with the cottages. And over the years, dozens of improvement projects have been completed to maintain the original appearance of the cottages and provide modern conveniences.

While major work is done by contractors, the families have each provided countless hours to do minor projects.

The families have worked out a schedule so that each one of the owners has equal time to spend at the cottages during the summer.

Beach days are busy

In the early days, the cottages didn't have TV sets because there were too many other activities going on outside. Most days centered around beach and water activities for young and old.

Family members participated in rowing and swimming races to the Delaware Breakwater and back.

When the Lewes Yacht Club opened in 1932, many family members joined, and many still are members. The tradition of weekly Mobjack sailing races hosted by LYC has been continued by members of the families for decades. The tradition started with members of the Keller family participating in the races and was expanded to the Ingram family when Paynt Ingram purchased Jim Keller's Mobjack. He and his son, Tony, are among the last skippers of Mobjacks in the region.

Children spent the entire day outside riding their bikes, playing games and going to the beach to swim, sail, boat, crab and fish. There were also seemingly endless card games, playing dress-up, building forts and even a little bit of skinny dipping at night.

Many days ended with homemade ice cream and bonfires on the beach.

Walks to the Dairy Queen quickly became a ritual that exists today.

“The new generation really understands the importance of the cottages to the families,” Sue said.

An annual trip to Rehoboth Beach and the Boardwalk was considered magical and became a family ritual, but only once a year.

The families have celebrated birthdays, graduation parties, July 4 festivities and even weddings on the beach in front of the cottages.

Among the traditions enjoyed by the families is a flagpole constructed between the cottages by Tony Ingram as a gift for Albert Keller in the late 1970s. The Kellers maintain the mast and fly the flags when families are at the beach.

Memorial Day has always been a work day at the Lupton-Keller cottage. Family members join forces to get the cottage ready for the season. A key date for the families was the addition of air conditioning in 2022.

Next door, the Ingram family celebrates the holiday and watches their neighbors toil away. In the 2000s, the Ingrams followed suit and planned their own work days, but never on a holiday.

As more and more houses and cottages were built along the beach and on New York Avenue, Connecticut Avenue and Cedar Street, other families became part of the beach lifestyle. Generations of those families have become steadfast friends.

“We are eternally grateful to the first generation – Mollie and Paynter Ingram, and Albert and Edith Lupton – who made this all possible, and to their children and grandchildren who have been such dedicated stewards of these family legacies,” Sue wrote in her book.