Blood & Biohazard Cleanup Near Donovan Development Slaughter Beach, DE

Slaughter Beach is a town in Sussex County, Delaware, on the southwest shore of Delaware Bay, with a population of 218 at the 2020 census.

The town was founded in 1681 and incorporated in 1931, and it covers 1.44 square miles.

One story says the town was named for William Slaughter, a local postmaster in the mid-19th century, while another says the name comes from horseshoe crabs stranded and dying on the beach each spring.

A third, more contested legend says a man named Brabant slaughtered several indigenous inhabitants by cannon in the mid-18th century to prevent a massacre.

In 2018 PETA asked the town to change its name to Sanctuary Beach and offered to help pay for new signage.

Slaughter Beach was home to the Mispillion Lighthouse, the last wooden frame lighthouse in Delaware, established in 1831 with a 65-foot tower.

The lighthouse was partly destroyed when it was hit by lightning in 2002, then purchased privately, moved down the bay by barge, and incorporated into a private residence in Lewes.

Slaughter Beach is an official sanctuary for horseshoe crabs, the state marine animal of Delaware, and the horseshoe crab is the town's official symbol.

The town is also home to the Milford Neck Wildlife Area, and tourists come to watch migrating birds feed on horseshoe crab eggs.

At the 2000 census the town had 108 households, with an average household size of 1.83 people.