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Cottage Tours an Annual
Highlight in Rehoboth, Bethany

By DAVID MAULL, TV Times

When Ron Borders set out to build a new home (shown at right) in Rehoboth's King's Creek community, he was faced with a special set of architectural challenges.

His triangle-shaped lot on South Fieldway required an unorthodox design, and the result was a house with two large wings extending in each direction from the main entrance.

"We wanted it to be contemporary," Borders said. "It was built to fit the lot."

And interior is even more striking, with high ceilings, dark mahogany floors and a primarily open floor plan.

Area residents will get a chance to see for themselves later this month when Borders' home is one of 16 houses featured in cottage tours in Rehoboth and Bethany Beach.

His house is among seven featured on the 49th Annual Rehoboth Art League Cottage Tour July 14 and 15. Proceeds from the event benefit the art league.

"I do it mostly because of the cause. It's a way I can support the art league," Borders said. " I like to show off the house a little bit because I like the way it turned out."

At the main entrance is a foyer with a 28-foot barrel ceiling.

In one wing of the house is a "great room" in which a kitchen, sitting room and formal dining room are contained in one large open area. The sunken sitting room has a billiard table and fireplace.

"We wanted just one big open area where we spend most of our time," Borders said.

Off the great room are two guest suites with large bathrooms.

"Good bathrooms sell houses," Borders joked.

In the other wing is a sunken living room and a grand master suite that includes a sitting room/ office and a huge bathroom.

"I think the master bedroom is my favorite part of the house," Borders said. "It's actually too big really."

The 6,000-square-foot home also features hanging lights and radiant heat under the floors. The rear patio looks out onto the King's Creek golf clubhouse and first tee.

"It turned out better than expected," Borders said of his year-old home. "It grew as it was being planned."

But the Borders house is just one of the Rehoboth tour's attractions.

Six other homes in Henlopen Acres, North Shores, The Pines, Silver Lake and Rehoboth Beach Yacht and Country Club will also be open to the public for two days.

Tour stops range from small cottages (Horton Cottage in the Pines shown left) to large three-story dwellings.

"It's a real opportunity to get a glimpse into some interesting houses," said Violet Chilcoat, the tour's publicity director. "It's so generous for all of these people to open their homes. I think it's going to be wonderful."

The tour began in 1949 as the brain child of Rehoboth Art League founder Louise Corkran. Contained mostly in Henlopen Acres, the event was billed as the "Cottage Tour of Art" with art works being displayed at each of the homes on the tour.

During the last 20 years, however, the homes have become the main attraction and the tour has expanded into other areas of town.

Younger but just as successful is the Beach and Bay Cottage Tour, which this year spotlights nine homes in Bethany Beach, South Bethany and Fenwick Island.

The seventh annual tour will be held July 22 and 23 and proceeds benefit the South Coastal Library.

Homes in Bethany Bay, the Salt Pond, Bay View Park and Keenwik West will be featured.

"It's just been enormously popular," said Mary Pat Kyle, the tour's publicity director. "The houses are all so interesting."

Proceeds from the tour allow the Friends of the South Coastal Library to purchase amenities such as computers and furniture for the facility. It's the group's largest fund raiser of the year.

The tour began the year the library opened but Kyle and other library officials were stunned by its immediate popularity.

"This is an area of enormous growth," Kyle said. "It seemed like a legitimate way to raise the money we were looking for. I think we were all surprised (at the popularity)."

The tour offers a balance of new and old homes and some spectacular views. It has become so popular that a limit has been placed on the number of tickets sold.

That's good news for the library.

"They would suffer if we did not have the tour," Kyle said.