As I mentioned in my previous Silver Lake blog, I recently returned to spend some time in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, USA, the setting for my Silver Lake series of books.
On my first day back in town I was up early to be on the beach for sunrise at 5:40am. (Jet lag helped here lol) Sitting on the sand, watching the sun creep up over the horizon felt truly magical…then I looked north up the beach and saw them… the two WWII fire control towers that are mentioned many times in the books as Jake Power goes for an early morning run along the beach to turn at them.
My running stamina doesn’t extend to running that far on sand (more on that in a future blog) but I decided I could walk out to them instead.
Walking along the waterline with the waves washing in over my bare feet as the sun slowly climbed higher in the sky was so peaceful. There were a few other early birds out walking on the beach, so I wasn’t the only one watching the sky turn many shades of red through gold. It was the perfect way to start my first day in town.
Two or three locals ran past me as I walked. I really wasn’t hard to imagine that one of them was Jake.
The towers proved to be slightly further north than they looked but eventually I reached them. A chill ran up my spine as I realised that I’d stepped into the pages of my own novels.
There are 11 fire control towers in total across Delaware and southern New Jersey. They were commissioned by the US Army in the 1940s and were watch towers. The two at Rehoboth Beach, Towers #5 and #6 stand about 60 feet high. Their entrances and windows are sealed off but as I stood looing up at them I couldn’t help but wonder just how spectacular the view of the ocean would be from the top.
I wonder if you can see Jake and Lori’s beach house which lies about 3 miles south along the beach from the top?..
If you’ve missed the Silver Lake series you can find them for sale worldwide on Amazon
Eleven years ago, give or take a month or two, I created a fictitious rock band in my debut novel, Stronger Within,
For those of you who haven’t read it (tut tut) the book is set in the small town of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware USA. I wanted my rock band to have a name that reflected where their roots lay. Cue a Google maps search of the area looking for inspiration…. then I spotted it. A small lake, just inland from the south end of the boardwalk – Silver Lake. (It is in fact one of only two freshwater lakes in the area, originally formed from the runoff from the Wisconsin glacier.)
The rest as they say is history…. read the Silver Lake series to see how the rock band worked out.
Recently I spent some time back in Rehoboth Beach. That small town is one of my favourite places on earth. It had been twelve long years since my last visit, and I had never seen Silver Lake in real life. As I walked along the beach and the boardwalk everything felt surreal. I felt as though I was walking through the pages of my own novels.
It goes without saying that one of the first places on my “must see” list was Silver Lake. It did not disappoint!
Stronger Within starts with our favourite aspiring rock star, Jake Power, helping artist Lori Hyde home along the boardwalk after a fall on the beach. As I walked along the same stretch of boardwalk I could imagine them by my side. I followed the boardwalk to its south end then made a short pilgrimage along the beach to where Lori’s house is in the books. There’s a gap in real life between the third and fourth houses off the end of the boardwalk and its in that gap that is site where I imagined Lori’s house to be situated.
Next on my book tour was Silver Lake. I headed down Prospect Street towards East Lake Drive and there it was shimmering in the afternoon sun in front of me. Silver Lake!
It took my breath away!
Even if I do say so myself, I’d pictured it perfectly in my books. I feel I’d done a pretty good job of describing East Lake Drive too.
Actually standing in the spot that was meant to be the end of Lori’s driveway, looking out over Silver Lake was a special and emotional moment that will live with me for a long time.
I could almost hear Jake practicing his guitar in the background.
If you’ve missed the Silver Lake series you can find them for sale worldwide on Amazon
Coral McCallum 