Barefootin'

Dennis Forney has been a journalist on the Delmarva Peninsula since 1972 and has been writing his Barefootin’ column for The Whale and then the Cape Gazette for more than 30 years. He blogs at www.capegazette.com/blogs/dennisforney. Contact Dennis at dennisforney@capegazette.com.

Dick Catts' mini-parade says much about the beaches

Dennis Forney
2 years ago
Editor’s note: In honor of Publisher Emeritus Dennis Forney’s farewell column Jan. 7, the Cape...

Thoughts on keeping the Cape Gazette local, independent

Dennis Forney
2 years ago
This is a letter to my faithful readers through all of the Barefootin’ decades. Thank you so much...

Holiday jibber-jabber: Omicron, Beatles, Station 11,...

Dennis Forney
2 years ago
In this quiet week between Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, here’s the buzz I’m hearing...

Anything more Christmassy than slime mold and...

Dennis Forney
2 years ago
The professor and I hiked through the piney dunes of Cape Henlopen State Park on a bright fall day...

This Christmas season conjures up a tale of two Joes

Dennis Forney
2 years ago
Philanthropy - The desire to promote the welfare of others, expressed especially by...

Mistletoe’s mysterious ability to shake a few...

2 years ago
A traffic jam on Route 1 resulting from a crash near the Broadkill Bridge Tuesday morning sent me...

Why is one of our oldest roads known as New Road?

Dennis Forney
2 years ago
Other than the rudimentary pathways trod by Native Americans up and down and across the Delmarva...

Engel giving new life to old Ellendale Post Office

Dennis Forney
2 years ago
Many people regularly pass through Ellendale in their travels across the Delmarva Peninsula. To me...

Coastal winter expected to be degree or two warmer...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Expect weather in the next three months of winter to look a lot like what we’re expecting next week...

The rut is on, and deer don’t care about your car

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Driving through the countryside. Autumn. Leaves changing. Warm days mixing with cool nights. Heavy...

Lewes Entrepreneurial Society, belching cows,...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
David Lawson, a molecular biologist PhD, spent a long and successful career applying his scientific...

Shipping issues through the eyes of a river pilot

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Barely a day goes by without our hearing about shortages and shipping delays related to national...

Politics, left and right, pushing and pulling with...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
“Governing a large country is like frying a fish. You spoil it with too much poking.” –...

Seashore State Park history tied to IR Inlet and its...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
In the early 1900s, when Indian River’s inlet changed locations almost as often as the weather...

Fall’s second season in full swing – ‘absolutely at...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
“After all, the chief business of the American people is business.” – U.S. President...

In its second decade, UD’s Lewes turbine steadily...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Whoosh – whoosh – whoosh. It’s a clean sound that pulses powerfully and quietly around the campus...

Broadkill bridge construction connected to deep history

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Things have been busy lately around the Route 1 bridge over the Broadkill River. An $18 million...

Major projects in works at Cape Henlopen State Park

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Ray Bivens, director of Delaware’s Division of Parks and Recreation, said this year’s state bond...

Carbine used at Little Bighorn makes its way to Lewes

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
In his 53 years as a licensed Delaware dealer, Charlie Steele has displayed and sold a wide variety...

Power plant’s closure means coal trains disappearing

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
No business likes losing one of its big customers. But that appears to be what will happen to...

A summertime visit to Maryland’s Charm City

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
A few of us earthlings boated into Baltimore last weekend. When I mentioned to some friends where...

Zen of handlining crabs, flying Blue Angels, playing...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
One of the great and simple pleasures of Delmarva life is handlining for feisty, greedy and claw-...

Reflecting on the clean efforts of Delaware’s clean...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
John Carney is a clean guy – a clean governor. Buttoned up, smart, experienced, trim, prudent and...

Mayor Mills on Clear Space; Rehoboth wastewater...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Stan Mills, in his first year as Rehoboth Beach mayor, feels like the resort is having a good...

Thousand-pound marlin makes Hawaiian wedding even...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Bill Schab, a long-standing and colorful attorney in Lewes, knew a few things when he and his...

Stamps celebrate lighthouses; entry signs celebrate Joe

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
The iconic black-and-white Harbor of Refuge Light, anchoring the southeast end of the breakwater...

On midsummer break, Coons discusses range of topics

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Chris Coons, one of Delaware’s U.S. senators along with Tom Carper, is taking a break in Lewes this...

For fireworks shows, daily living, buses...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Delaware’s Department of Transportation is loading up with buses for the Rehoboth Beach fireworks...

Delmarva’s sweet spot status and growing population

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
I’ve often referred to the Delmarva Peninsula as the sweet spot of the northern hemisphere’s sweet...

Baseball reigns supreme at Sports at the Beach

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Midweek in June, a smattering of cars spread across the expansive parking lots of Pete Townsend’s...

Tourist season is also planting, harvesting season

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
While resort business people are settling into the 2021 tourist season, Sussex County farmers are...

Sea’s relentless power threatening Harbor of Refuge...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
The sea is relentless, one of many planetary mega-forces constantly in play. We don’t see gravity,...

For teacher Anna White Henry, Milton integration no...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
At 92, Anna White Henry has to stop and think when asked questions about the past. But once that...

Tale of two ped, cycling crossings and scarce crabs

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
People who live along Camp Arrowhead Road in the Angola area are fired up over a new pedestrian...

Cape election brings equality and equity into focus

3 years ago
“Although the sense of equality is made the basis of many social and political ideals...

Current Sussex numbers for COVID, census and real...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Sometimes it’s just fun to cut through the words and look at the numbers. Data from the 2020 10-...

Growth and COVID observations relating to our schools

3 years ago
Roadwork and school construction have become constants in Sussex County and Delaware’s Cape Region...

Navy’s stealth vessel intrigues almost as much as...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
We live in a waterfront community, so it’s no surprise that last week’s column about Norfolk, its...

Awed by U.S. Navy and steady hum of Norfolk’s...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
I awoke this morning, the sun's first light transforming the monochromatic colors of night into the...

Days of bright sunshine drying fields for cultivation

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Observations: The last week of March brought typical coastal whipsaw weather. High that week was 86...

Suez Canal saga recalls tense 2017 incident in C&D...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
The recent stranding of the 1,300-foot container vessel Ever Given in the Suez Canal, and its brief...

Animals define us and mark the changing season

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Have you ever watched a squirrel run halfway across a street, stop, turn around, run halfway back...

Connecting the dots: Rehoboth and Selbyville post...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Last week’s column about the Karl Knaths mural in the Rehoboth Beach Post Office led me this week...

Rehoboth post office painting is artistic link to...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Russian author and philosopher Leo Tolstoy wrote about many subjects, including art. He once said...

Rush Limbaugh’s passing poignant for Lewes resident...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
The recent passing of popular conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh proved especially...

Goodbye swift, soggy February; hello spring’s early...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
As the shortest month, with just 28 days, it’s not surprising that February also feels like the...

Progress in our state parks; a few more Dogfish tidbits

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
February, as it is wont to do, is flying by. But as it flaps its wings in this cold, heavy polar...

Cape Region trash pits filled with historical...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
This will be the final installment on what readers have helped me learn, as well as their...

Oat milk, hops and the alchemy of Dogfish’s new Hazy-O

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
“Oats, peas, beans and barley grow,/ Oats, peas, beans and barley grow,/ Do you or I or anyone...

Crosley? ‘49 Olds? Weather ahead; railroad bridge...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
So how’s our mid-Atlantic weather looking for the rest of January, and into February and March?...

Another ancient relic in Cape Henlopen park piques...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
I’m writing this while waiting in a line of about 1,000 cars at the Division of Motor Vehicles in...

Cape leaders say internet-based learning working for...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
This time of coronavirus – with so much focus on remote learning via computer screens – has forced...

Inland Bays center taking James Farm to next level

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Twenty years ago, at the dawn of a new century, the summer’s predominant southwesterly winds blew...

Appreciating the outdoors, expanding trails despite...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
One of the bright spots in the blizzard of suffering brought on by the coronavirus pandemic is an...

Record Christmas tree sales and the basics of life

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Fred and Shelly Sposato have been growing and selling Christmas trees at their Pine Hollow...

Delaware’s shotgun deer hunters keeping statewide...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Delaware hunters killed an estimated 7,068 white-tail deer during the 10-day shotgun season in late...

A Magnificent Frigatebird at Cape Henlopen Hawk Watch?

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
There are days when hawks, eagles and other birds of prey fly fast and furious over the Hawk Watch...

Clifton returns to Clifton, wins second federal...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
Wildlife artist Richard Clifton lives on the edge of Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge. The...

Beebe weathering budget hits; prepping for Biden...

Dennis Forney
3 years ago
With more than 2,700 employees and an annual operating budget in the $450 million range, Beebe...

Catching and selling conchs a way of life for Shawn...

Dennis Forney
4 years ago
“This is the definition of multitasking.” – Shawn Moore It’s 8 a.m. on the sixth day of...