Fenwick Island State Park preserves a relatively undeveloped 375-acre stretch of coast on the narrow strip between the Atlantic Ocean and Little Assawoman Bay, between Ocean City and South Bethany. The area was named for Thomas Fenwick, who received rights to it from Lord Baltimore in 1682, and it figured in the Penn-Calvert boundary dispute that was settled in the 1750s with the drawing of the Trans-Peninsular Line from Fenwick Island. Its shifting dunes limited intensive development. The property later served in the coastal defense system during World War II, and an observation tower still remains. Today it provides access to both ocean and bay recreation.