Seaside Nature Center

Fantastic experience: They have a nice opportunity to look at animals inside. The staff are very helpful. There is also a nice opportunity to rent bikes. There is also a nice experience with the bird feeder outside where we got to see a wild turkey.

Positive experience: A very small nature center in the state park. The touch tank was the highlight for my son. The park itself had some many different things to offer. Worth a stop if you're already planning to visit the park.

Positive experience: Free exhibits on fish, crustaceans and other reptiles with 'hands on' pools for children to experience fish and sand crabs. Also has a small gift shop and bathrooms. Well worth a visit, especially for the kiddies!

Positive experience: Cute little nature center with a touch tank and aquariums featuring local fish from different parts of the ecosystem. Spent about 30 mins here with my daughter. Gift shop had some.lically themed gems.

Positive experience: It's not a very big Nature Center but you can pet a horseshoe crab and they do have some lovely gift shop items that my entire family made use of, much to my wallets Chagrin A particularly useful diversion on days when it's incredibly hot

Positive experience: Nice little stop in the state park,especially with the kids!

Fantastic experience: Very cool place. Lots of things to see including dolphins! The nature center has souvenirs, a small aquarium where you can pet horseshoe crabs and fish. They have a wall of other really cool fish in tanks and reptile exhibit.....all free with embryo entry to the park. Pets are not allowed at the point, but we were still able to see the dolphins on the other side! Only $10 to enter the park

Fantastic experience: Great little stop for kids and a nice gift shop.

Positive experience: It's small, but very cute. Takes about 15 minutes to see everything, longer if you stop to read the informative signs next to each aquarium. There is a small merch area, a tank where you can touch a horseshoe crab, and luckily a very clean bathroom. Not a destination on its own, but a cool little side quest in the state park.

Positive experience: Small but nice. The kids loved it. It’s nice that they also have free bike rentals.

Fantastic experience: Great Place! Richard took us on a bird walk. We piled in their bus, off we went locally. He helped id birds, pointed out a bunch. Brought us to beautiful natural environs. He also remembers everyone's name,( we had a full bus). Free, sign up in advance!

Fantastic experience: A small nature center part of Cape Henlopen State Park. Typically have a touch pond with some sea creatures, and larger fish tanks with local species. Next door is a bike rental and it's less than 1/4 mile from a fishing pier. Worth the visit especially if you have littles.

Negative experience: Not much to do or see in this building, needs a new updated look.

Fantastic experience: Such a great little place! Was a recommendation for where to take my 4 yr grandson when he came for a visit. So glad I took the advice. I don't know who enjoyed it more. Terrific tanks to view fish up close, as good as any aquarium that charges admission and all this for free!

Fantastic experience: Very cool place to check out & ride bikes for free!! Cool beach hiking paths & military memorabilia. Gorgeous views from the paths and look outs.

Fantastic experience: Very friendly staff. Neat stop in the park for our daughter.

Fantastic experience: Came here to borrow some bikes for the trail. Very efficient staff, decent bathroom and gift shop. They have maps as well which helped us on the bike trail.

Positive experience: So nice and relaxing. If you aren't a resident it's $10 entrance fee for the day. Many things to do! Biking trails and bike rentals, hiking trails, basketball court, youth center, beach with a nice access, bathrooms are clean and well kept.

Positive experience: Nice little nature center inside the park . They have a fish tank where you can touch the fish and crabs

Fantastic experience: Our 2 year old really enjoyed seeing the fish and being able to touch the horseshoe crabs in their touch tank.

Fantastic experience: Such a cool spot! Touch tanks where you can touch various sea creatures, and a mini aquarium to learn about many more. All free. Right next to the Bike Barn where you can borrow bikes for free as well.

Fantastic experience: Great place to see/pet fish. Additionally, you can get bikes for free from here, which comes in handy when you want to go on their amazing biking trails

Fantastic experience: Small and cute. My kids loved the touch pool which had horseshoe crabs, baby flounder and other local fish. They also had a series of other beautiful aquariums show casing local fish and habitats. Also, some wonderful staff that answered lots of great questions from kids and adults about the local wildlife. Definitely worth a visit!

Fantastic experience: Lots to see and do here, super friendly staff, and clean restrooms!

Negative experience: I found it very disturbing to see the two turtles on display in individual tanks, there was absolutely no enrichment, and no place to hide from the public and they were so distressed, as I looked in the tank, they hurried to the other corner. there was nowhere to hide. These animals live a very long time and are living in complete suffering, depletion of a normal life just so that they can be on display for people. I spoke to one of the Nature, Center workers and asked are these turtles here for a long time and they said yes to here for their whole life. I asked will they ever be released back into nature? They said no. Well turtles can live for decades. I told her that was inhumane, cruel and how it completely contradicts the message the nature center claims to be conveying, which is to respect nature and learn about nature. Well, in order to learn about these turtles, all they have to do is have a plastic model. I am going to write a letter and doubt if they will give a darn. I will never go back there again. I just can’t stop thinking about how those turtles are suffering. I mentioned it to a couple colleagues of mine who are also biologists like I am, they agreed with me at this kind of thing is inappropriate. The turtles should be released released into nature. That there is no excuse for not using a plastic or wooden model At the very least give them a large space to live in with a lot of enrichment and places to explore and hide. But I guess they don’t want them to hide because they want them to be visible all the time day and night 24 hours. Those poor turtles.

Fantastic experience: Fish touching and super friendly staff, great day trip with the kids!

Fantastic experience: Really cool small giftshop and touch tank with baby skates and some horseshoe crabs. Walking distance to the pier and tower 8.

Fantastic experience: Great place to visit to understand the local nature of Cape Henlopen.

Fantastic experience: Good exhibits to make up for the $10 out of state admission fee we had to pay to enter the park.

Fantastic experience: Great addition to your Cape Henlopen experience. Touch tank with local critters for the kids.

Fantastic experience: A great little place to stop into on your way to or from the beach ️! Kids would love it! Information and entertainment!

Fantastic experience: We visited on Friday morning Labor Day weekend. We arrived around 8AM and brought our bikes to ride. We parked here and got on the loop trail and went most of the way down to Gordon's Pond trail, turned around, and came back. When we got back around 10AM, there were a ton more people here. Not many in the visitor center itself. They do rent bikes out for free, and all you need to do is fill out a formal. There is a 2 hr maximum rental time. It's in a giant shed/garage in the parking lot, but forms are inside the visitor center. The visitor center has a few wall exhibits and half a dozen aquariums, with each one representing different ecosystems around the ocean/bay. Lots of variety and large animals to look at. They also have a fairly large touch tank. Make sure to wash your hands before and after handling the marine life. Also, make sure to get all the soap off your hands before dipping them in. They have hermit crabs and horseshoe crabs and fish and snails you could touch. If you walk further to the right, there is another room with seats that shows a video about the park on a loop. There are also 3 more tanks in here with snake and turtles. There is also a gift shop with a good variety of goodies, including but not limited to appearal, pins, hiking medallions, patches, and key chains. Right outside the front is also the seaside nature trail. We were planning to do the trail but it was very sandy. We didn't have the right shoes because we were biking the park. You probably wouldn't need to visit it again unless you're a local and are here all the time. There are so many other things to do in this park.

Fantastic experience: Nice little nature center with several aquariums, reptiles in terrariums and a big touch the fish tank.

Fantastic experience: The Nature Center is a great first stop when visiting Cape Henlopen State Park. The Center has an exhibit of several aquatic tanks featuring live fish, reptiles and amphibians that are native to the area. There were 2 guides answering questions and talking about live horsehoe crabs in a touch tank. There's a playground and small picnic area outside. There's also a short sandy trail to explore, but it was buggy and overgrown when we visited.

Fantastic experience: Kids loved the activities provided by the nature center! What a blast

Fantastic experience: It was really neat they had all different kinds of fish to look at,and they had a nice gift shop also

Positive experience: It's a nice place with historical facts of the Cape and the fish and wildlife indigenous to the area.

Fantastic experience: The staff put on an amazing presentation on turtles and snakes for the kids. They also loved the touch tank.

Fantastic experience: Free bikes to use on the trails!! Friendly staff.

Fantastic experience: A fantastic learning experience for both adults and children. Exhibits change yearly. Now there is a small play area for under 4 year olds.

Fantastic experience: Enjoyed viait. Restrooms inside. Fish tanks with flounder and many other fish.

Fantastic experience: They have a nice bike rental place that does have kids bikes along with helmets. You can ride your bike all the way to Rehoboth. Also, the Nature Center has aquariums and touch tanks for aquatic life.

Fantastic experience: The staff here are professional, knowledgeable, and passionate!

Fantastic experience: Great little place. Good for everyone. Really enjoyed all the exhibits. Would have been nice to be able to take my dog on the walking trail.

Fantastic experience: Nice visit to see local sea life. Free if you have a pass to the park.

Fantastic experience: Staff are great - knowledgeable Kind And the trials are awesome

Fantastic experience: This place is well worth the visit. We especially liked the open tank at the entrance with horseshoe crabs that we could touch!

Fantastic experience: This place is really nice. Just a very small aquarium where you can learn about different fish. Plus they have a touch tank.

Fantastic experience: Hands-on displays for kids (and kids at heart) and nice aquarium displays of fish important locally.

Fantastic experience: Nice nature center with a touch tank containing horseshoe crabs, hermit crabs, and flatfish. There are also aquariums showing sea life in different saltwater environments. This is a convenient place to stop and use the bathroom, refill water bottles, and get information about Cape Henlopen State Park from the park rangers on hand.

Positive experience: The aquaria are very good but I hope the reptile area is undergoing updates, the enclosures were very small and dull and give the animals little room to live or to keep them engaged.

Fantastic experience: This lovely little nature center is the perfect size for toddlers and young children. It has a little education room with tanks for native reptiles, a touch tank with several creatures including horseshoe crabs, hermit crabs, and a few different fish, as well as several large tanks with local fish. There is also a little gift shop with clothing, stuffed animal toys of local birds and creatures, and books and pamphlets on native plants. My toddler loved the touch tank and spent nearly an hour gently petting the different sea creatures. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if a staff member had been at the tank to tell the kids about the different creatures. If you're in the area and have a nature loving child, I would absolutely recommend stopping by!

Fantastic experience: Very nice place and FREE bike rental. The bike path is scenic and people are friendly. The kids love it. Have to show up early to use the free bikes.

Positive experience: This place is nice, but very, very, very small. Four fish tanks and four reptile tanks. The gift shop is the biggest draw. It's nice, but just don't plan for it to entertain the kids longer than about 20 mins. TOPS.

Fantastic experience: This place is great! It is very informative, and the rangers there take a special interest in educating guests. Today Miss Laura T. Was especially helpful because she identified a feather I was curious about. I wish my employees went out of their way like her to be helpful!.

Fantastic experience: Great place to learn about sealife here in Delaware

Fantastic experience: Very nice atmosphere.

Positive experience: Very small. Not worth the park fee for just this but a great stop in if you're already there.

Positive experience: I liked the exhibits at nature center. They let you touch the crabs, if you wish to do so. I hiked the seaside trail. As name suggests, it takes toy to near the sea.

Fantastic experience: It's a very nice place to visit and see what lives beneath the waves

Fantastic experience: Great place to take your kids to learn about the nature with live animals horseshoe crabs fish and the bicycle Shack out back to boot, they offer free bicycles from 10 to 3 daily for family use

Positive experience: It was small as noted, but got hands on hermit crabs and interesting facts about the fish. Also visited the state park in which this is located. Nice trails established, beaches clean.

Fantastic experience: The nature center was very informative and had some cool exhibits. Upon entering the first thing you see is the touch tank with the Horseshoe crabs. The other tanks along the back wall had a variety of fish ranging from those found in inland waters to those found in the costal waters. The gift shop had a cute selection of items, and the bathrooms were clean.

Fantastic experience: Good place to stop at the moment you enter the park. Very helpful staff. Fun for the kids with the animals..

Fantastic experience: Great place for young children. Bathrooms are still open despite Covid. The staff are always friendly and helpful.

Fantastic experience: Very fun and educational nature center located near the entrance to Cape Henlopen State Park. The Seaside Nature Center has educational videos and exhibits about the coastal environment along the Delaware Bay. There is a rich pool with horseshoe crabs, snails and other seaside creatures. There are several aquariums that detail the ecology of various water habitats found along the bay and ocean. The staff were awesome and there is a small gift shop located in the nature center as well. Bike rentals can also be located adjacent to the building.

Fantastic experience: Fun little place for the whole family! We love using the bikes!

Fantastic experience: Take a quick peek to see some of the sea life and pet a horseshoe crab!

Positive experience: Very friendly people/volunteers who work here. Nature center is small but packed with great information.

Fantastic experience: My kids really loved the nature center. The touch tank is amazing!

Positive experience: Was closed, can't wait until they reopen

Fantastic experience: Sweet little Nature Center. Better when Covid is gone! Wish the store had more inventory but still nice things.

Fantastic experience: Loved the fish tanks and the little gift shop. The staff were very helpful and they have park maps available.

Positive experience: Not much to see at the exhibits due to the season and covid, but trek the path behind the center to the Bay to see the lighthouse and scores of horse shoe crab shells.

Fantastic experience: worth the stop and walk once your in park

Fantastic experience: Very nice beach and pleasant staff

Fantastic experience: Ive been multiple times, and each one was awesome. Due to COVID-19, the touching section of the center was closed for obvious reasons. The tanks behind the store were full of fish though. Also, a very well priced gift shop. Some of what you purchase goes back to organizations benefiting the animal you are supporting

Fantastic experience: Very informative staff, always have great activities for the family. The store even sells discs if you want to play the course!

Fantastic experience: The nature center is a strongly recommended stop if you're in CHSP. There is a touch tank with horseshoe crabs, a gift shop, multiple aquariums for viewing, and always helpful, pleasant staff members there to answer any questions. Also, during the summer, bikes are available so that you and the fam can explore all of the state park(free, just bring your DL)

Fantastic experience: This is a diamond in the rough five or six huge tanks gift shop

Fantastic experience: Neat touch exhibits.

Fantastic experience: We went specifically for the "Seining the bay" activity. Our 5 year old daughter loved it. This type of activity is right up her alley, so maybe other children wouldn't enjoy it as mush as she did... I would recommend going and learning about the local inhabitants of the Delaware Bay. The two young ladies who led the activity were very knowledgeable and friendly with all of the children. You stand in line and wait until the center opens at 9, buy tickets, and then walk about 1/2 mile to the beach. They did 4 passes through the water, put the creatures in the kiddie pool, and then talked about the individual species. It lasts a little over an hour. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. It was worth the price, in my opinion.

Fantastic experience: It wasn't busy, so I talked to one of the staff members for about 15 mins about the local cultural and natural history of the park. She was very knowledgeable and was able to answer all my questions. The prickly pear cactus is navitive in this area and you can climb one of the old watch towers in the park for a great view! I highly recommend stopping by for information and a map!

Fantastic experience: A must if you are interested in learning about the local ecology, perfect for kids and adults

Positive experience: Lots of information about the wildlife in the area. They have a wall of aquariums filled with the local marine animals, and a touch tank filled mainly with clams, conches, and horseshoe crabs

Fantastic experience: Great little nature center showcasing the park. Lots of information inside, with friendly park staff. Guided tours and demonstrations for those who want to learn more. For kids (young or old), touch tanks and aquariums with local sea creatures. They also rent bikes for free, but I haven't utilized it. Also a nice escape from the heat in the summers with cold water fountain