Fort Miles Historical Area
A concrete gun battery, coastal observation towers, and an underground museum explain the Delaware Bay’s wartime defense.
Artwork inspired by Gretchen Hupfel
Fort Miles defended the approaches to the Delaware River during World War II. Walk among low concrete positions and look toward the coastal fire-control towers: together, they explain how a battery watched ships and aimed guns rather than acting as a conventional walled fort. Battery 519 now houses exhibits on the people, technology, and daily work behind that defense.
Several exhibits can be entered without buying a bunker tour, but a guided one-hour visit adds the story of aiming the gun and moving inside the battery. Opening days change by season, while the outdoor Cape Henlopen landscape remains available through park access. Reserve a tour if that interior is essential, and distinguish the vehicle fee from the separately priced tour.
- War
- World War II
- Bunker
- Battery 519
- Guided tour
- About one hour
Quick guide
- Read the tower
- The observation line explains why the coast was defended here.
- Choose the tour
- Free exhibits and the paid one-hour bunker tour differ.
Know before you go
- Find the gun
- Its scale makes the aiming story tangible.
- Scan the shoreline
- The cape commands the Delaware Bay entrance.
- Enter exhibits
- Look for labor and civilian-service stories.
- Reserve ahead
- The bunker tour is a separate scheduled experience.
Good to know
This historical area is inside Cape Henlopen State Park. Museum opening, guided tour, and outdoor park access are not the same schedule; entrance and tour charges are separate.
Notice these
- Battery 519
- Coastal observation tower
- Artillery Park