Johnny Walker Seashore (delawarepublic.org)
A metropolis in japanese Delaware has voted to alter the title of certainly one of its Delaware Bay seashores in honor of a former black enterprise proprietor.
Lewes Seashore, previously known as Seashore 2, is now known as Johnnie Walker Seashore after the African-American enterprise proprietor who created a welcoming environment for black households throughout the segregation years of the Nineteen Fifties and Sixties. The title change was prompted by suggestions from the African American Heritage Fee.
“I am simply excited that we bought thus far and I am thrilled with the emotional response,” Kay Carnahan, the parks and recreation commissioner who led the change, advised The Information Journal. “I believed I used to be simply asking for a reputation and was amazed what that actually means for this group.”
Johnnie Walker’s restaurant was an open pavilion that usually featured reside music and offered again households with a spot to attach of their group, in line with a Information Journal report.
“There was a breakup, however you did not even give it some thought,” mentioned Rev. George Edwards, chairman of the African American Heritage Fee, in an interview with the Information Journal. “I used to be completely happy right here.”
Metropolis and Chamber of Commerce plan to replace all maps and brochures earlier than the beginning of the 2022 seaside season. The Delaware Division of Pure Sources and Environmental Management can be inspecting the reproduction of the Johnnie Walker Pavilion on this seaside, in line with Lewes Mayor Ted Becker.
The African American Heritage Fee can be working with the town’s Parks and Recreation Fee and the Lewes Historic Society to create a state historic marker for the seaside.
In keeping with the Information Journal, Carnahan hopes the commissions can put shows on the seaside so guests can be taught extra in regards to the metropolis’s historical past.
“It was such a resilient group,” she mentioned at a metropolis council assembly final week. “That is what I believe we need to inform the story.”
Seashore 1, a bit of west of Johnnie Walker Seashore, can be getting a brand new title. The seaside is on the finish of East Savannah Rd. And so Lewes Metropolis Council determined to call it Savannah Seashore.
