The Sandcastle Lady of Lewes Beach

Although she's not a permanent Lewes resident, when she's here in late summer, Lynn Hicks McKeown loves and lives the Lewes lifestyle, and even takes it a step farther.

Most every day, she gathers up her sand buckets and tools, and walks about a block from her Midland Avenue cottage to start “work” on Lewes Beach at the Market Street crossover.

Her work is actually a labor of love. Lynn, 76, is affectionately known as The Sandcastle Lady.

And it's fitting, because she builds a new sandcastle each time she visits the beach. She starts around 11 a.m., breaks for lunch, and finishes around 3 p.m.

And she's been doing it for more than 35 years.

The goal of an artist is to create a work that lives on through the generations. However, sandcastles are precarious at best, with the wind and tide – and sometimes human interaction – as threats each and every day. “To me, I like starting over with a new castle each day,” she said.

Thanks in part to her presence on social media, she has become an icon on that section of the beach. It's not unusual for people to go out of their way just to visit her and see her in action.

She's not really sure exactly when the title was bestowed on her, but years ago, she said, people started calling her The Sandcastle Lady, and it became her persona.

So how did she start making sandcastles? “I had no money and was looking for something to do cheap with my four kids,” she said.

She would take her kids to the public beach during trips to Lewes and would build sandcastles with them.

The same spot each day

She builds on the same spot so she can use the same large sand hill for her creations. And up until the last week in August, no one had ever destroyed one of her sandcastles. During that week, two castles were destroyed.

Lynn, who is also an artist and musician, feeds off the energy of those around her, and especially young children who are fascinated with her sandcastles. She patiently demonstrates her art to them and gets them involved in the construction.

“I bring lots of buckets, carving shovels, molds and spoons to share, and I show kids everything I know, which takes about three minutes,” she said with a big smile.

She admires the artistic work and designs of people who compete in sandcastle contests along the ocean beaches. “We are working with two very different kinds of sand. The ocean sand is very fine, while this sand is heavier,” she said.

This year, she also started sand-carving sea creatures and mermaids.

Summer trips to Lewes

Lynn, who lives with her husband Jack in Aston, Pa., shares a family cottage with other relatives. Her trips to Lewes and Bowers Beach are some of her fondest memories. She started coming to the area when she was only 2 years old on day trips with her grandparents.

Her parents purchased the Midland Avenue cottage in 1963 and her summer life started in Lewes. She was a member of a band in Lewes, performing at the Lewes Yacht Club and the Rehoboth roller skating rink.

Lynn spent many vacations as a youngster in Lewes. “I had some really great summers of fishing, roller skating and checking out the boys,” she said with a smile. “It was very low-key, and in some respects it still is.”

She still sings with her church choir at St. Francis de Sales in Lenni, Pa. While staying in Lewes, she and her husband attend St. Jude The Apostle Church. “The painting and the music all comes from God,” she said.

Her Pennsylvania life

She and Jack were married in 1975. In her Pennsylvania life, she worked at various jobs including at the accounting department at Ship and Shore, production manager at Aldon Rug, and then in advertising and sales for the Sunroc Corporation. After her children were born, her attention turned to volunteering, including painting scenery for productions at the local high school and painting large murals for many after-prom parties. She also worked as a personal care provider.

Jack served in the fire service for more than 45 years as a volunteer fire chief and then as the first career fire marshal for Middletown Township in Delaware County, Pa., for more than 36 years.

Since they both retired in 2012, Jack has written two books about his career in the fire service and is finalizing a manuscript about growing up in the small Pennsylvania towns of Rockdale and Lenni.

Lynn has a local connection. Her brother Bill Hicks and sister-in-law Jill Hicks live in the area.