One of the Green Book’s stops in Sussex County
The Green Book recently earned the Academy Award for Best Picture of the Year from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The film portrayed one of many stories associated with the popular travel guide from the mid-20th century that provided names and locations of businesses in the U.S. considered safe and welcoming for African-American travelers. There were several businesses in Delaware listed in the book, including the Rosedale Beach Hotel and Resort that fronted on Indian River near Millsboro. In addition to the hotel, the resort included amusements, a boardwalk, boating excursions on Indian River (shown here) as well as a dance hall and music venue where artists such as Fats Domino, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Stevie Wonder played. Following integration in the late 1960s and the storm of 1962 that destroyed the Rosedale Beach Boardwalk, the hotel and resort eventually closed. The property was sold and is now the site of the Gull Point condominium complex.