Chief Little Owl

Bethany Beach, Delaware, United States

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Public art

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

Chief Little Owl is a 24-foot red cedar totem pole at the downtown entrance to Bethany Beach, Delaware, carved by Peter Wolf Toth for his Trail of the Whispering Giants. The town gives its dedication as 15 July 2002; it is the third pole at the site.

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Chief Little Owl

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38.53825° N, 75.05887° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Chief Little Owl, a 24-foot totem pole, greets drivers at the downtown entrance to Bethany Beach, Delaware, and it is the third pole to have stood there. The Cape Gazette says it honours Charles C. "Little Owl" Clark, chief of the Nanticokes from 1933 until his death in 1971, and shows his face carved into the pole with an eagle at the top.

Peter Wolf Toth gave the first pole to the town in 1976 as part of his Trail of the Whispering Giants, which the Cape Gazette describes as similar totem poles donated to every state in honour of Native Americans. The Cape Gazette says it was his tenth creation. The Town of Bethany Beach says termites weakened it and high winds destroyed it in 1992, and that the remains went to the Nanticoke Indian Museum in Millsboro. A second pole, by sculptor Dennis Beach, lasted until 2000, when rot forced the town to take it down.

Toth then carved the present pole from a red cedar log from the Pacific Northwest, which the town says should last 50 to 150 years; the Cape Gazette reports him saying at least 50. The town gives the dedication date as 15 July 2002. At the ceremony State Senator George Bunting called it "a landmark that says 'you're in Bethany' and it pays honor to the Nanticoke nation", and a descendant of Little Owl blessed it with song, prayer and tobacco.

It remains a local emblem: in May 2026 WBOC called it one of Bethany Beach's most recognizable landmarks. The Cape Gazette notes that thousands of people ride past on Route 1 without knowing the story.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A 24-foot carved red cedar pole at the town's main entrance, showing the face of Chief Little Owl and an eagle. The Cape Gazette says thousands of people ride past it on Route 1.

ACCESS

At the downtown entrance to Bethany Beach, Delaware, where the Cape Gazette places it at Route 1. It is a public landmark of the town.

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White Marlin sculpture (Ocean City)

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Public art

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23 km away

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