Located just a short drive from Bethany Beach, Delaware on Cedar Neck Road in Ocean View, the James Farm Ecological Preserve is an oasis of wild land on Indian River Bay.

From the sandy beach at low tide, you can walk through seven distinctive habitats; from the salty flats of the low marsh with its salt marsh cord grass and glasswort, through the shrubby high marsh with bayberry, marsh alder and salt marsh hay, into the shade of the loblolly pines, holly and red cedar of the maritime forest, into the deep shade of the hardwood forest under a canopy of southern red oak, hickory, sweet gum and sassafras, finally to emerge back into the sunshine in the meadows that were once farm fields.

The 150-acre James Farm property was gift to Sussex County from the late Mary Lighthipe, the last living descendant of the James family who had farmed the land for generations. She gave it in memory of her son, Harold, who was tragically killed in an automobile accident. She gave it with the condition that the property be used for environmental education and recreational activities, and that no permanent structures be erected there.

In the fall of 1998, the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays entered into an agreement with Sussex County to manage the property. Since that time, the CIB has worked with the surrounding community to create an ecological preserve. The preserve now features more than two miles of marked hiking trails, three observation platforms, a boardwalk beach crossing, wildflower gardens, an amphitheater, an informational kiosk, rest areas, and more than 4,000 trees purchased and planted in a USFWS “Partners in Wildlife” reforestation effort.

Click here for a larger version of the map above. Click here for a map with aerial view. Click here for a black & white trail map in PDF format.