Painting at Herring Point leads to presidential selfie
Story Location:
Herring Point
Cape Henlopen State Park
Lewes, DE 19958
United States
President Joe Biden stayed at his North Shores home through the weekend of Sept. 17. For the most part he stayed at the house, but he did attend church and go for a bike ride.
Cape Gazette reader Leslie Lesko sent along a couple of photos of her chance encounter with Biden while she was painting near the bench installed in honor of Biden’s son Beau Biden at Herring Point in Cape Henlopen State Park. Joseph R. “Beau” Biden died from cancer in May 2015. He served as Delaware attorney general and was also a major in the Delaware Army National Guard.
Lesko recounted her presidential selfie adventure in an email Sept. 21. She said, “I was engrossed in painting the beautiful vista from the Herring Point overlook of Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes. I chose to sit on the bench which had the best view, which happened to be the one memorializing Beau Biden.
“I was aware of a presence behind me and turned around to see Pres. Biden. I became totally tongue tied but managed to communicate that my son’s memorial bench was the first on the overlook. I also shared that I was a school psychologist and kids were being sent home daily due to Covid-19.
“I asked if I might get a photo with him and he said, ‘Let’s do this quietly so I don’t get a line.’ He asked me for my phone, snapped several, and then resumed his bike ride with Jill and his Secret Service detail. I wish I had the wherewithal to share all the things I thought of later!”
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories, random stories on subjects he finds interesting and has a column called ‘Choppin’ Wood’ that runs every other week. Additionally, Chris moonlights as the company’s circulation manager, which primarily means fixing boxes during daylight hours that are jammed with coins, but sometimes means delivering papers in the middle of the night. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
