take the steamer Atlantic across Rehoboth Bay and Indian River Bay to Ocean View, and then travel by horsedrawn carriage to Bethany Beach. On July 8, 1910, the Loop Canal was completed in Bethany Beach, allowing the motorboat Allie May�replaced in 1912 by the motorboat Helen Marie II�to dock at the town itself. Even with this improvement, however, the trip to Bethany Beach was uncomfortable and exhausting and from anywhere outside Delaware took at least a full day; from Pittsburgh it took two.
Bethany Beach's remote location meant that most beachgoers preferred to visit Rehoboth Beach to the north or Ocean City, Maryland, to the south, both of which they could reach directly by train. The small population of permanent residents of and regular visitors to Bethany Beach came to know one another well, and the town remained a quiet place that contrasted with the busier and more crowded atmosphere of Rehoboth Beach and Ocean City. Throughout the Quiet Years, it was unusual to find more than 20 people on Bethany Beach's wide beach at any one time. Bethany Beach's origin as a Christian community also tended to favor a quieter lifestyle; in its early years, for example, the religious character of Bethany Beach was expressed through the prohibition of non-religious activities on Sunday, although swimming in the ocean was permitted on Sundays between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m. Although Bethany Beach became more and more secular and more developed over the years, it retains its "Quiet Resort" reputation to this day.
Many of the property owners during the Quiet Years were from Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh. Those from Pittsburgh tended to have homes in the northern part of Bethany Beach�at least part of which became known as "Little Pittsburgh" for a time�while Washingtonians tended to build their houses on properties in the southern part of town.
During the Quiet Years, Bethany Beach gradually acquired more and more amenities and its government provided more
