Living Sands
You are standing on the Great Dune, the largest sand hill between Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. This is the dune's highest point, about 80 feet above the Atlantic Ocean.
It took thousands of years and the actions of both nature and people to create the Great Dune. Wind, waves and currents brought huge amounts of sand to the mouth of Delaware Bay. Grass and other plants grew, holding the sand and trapping more. By colonial times, the Great Dune was 46 feet tall and covered by a pine forest.
Humans then changed the Great Dune. Many of the trees were cut down by the early 1800's. Fires burned the rest. Without plants to hold it, the sand was set loose and shifted by the wind. The Great Dune moved inland so steadily that it was nicknamed the "Galloping Dune." During World War II, the Army added sand to hide a newly-constructed bunker, raising the Great Dune to its current height. The Army planted grass, trees, and shrubs to stabilize the sand. The dune's movement is not as noticeable today.
| HM Number | HM1I25 |
|---|---|
| Tags | |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Friday, November 28th, 2014 at 9:03pm PST -08:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 18S E 492467 N 4292058 |
|---|---|
| Decimal Degrees | 38.77721667, -75.08671667 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 38° 46.633', W 75° 5.203' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 38° 46' 37.98" N, 75° 5' 12.18" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 302 |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near Post Ln, Lewes DE 19958, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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