Betterton stands at the mouth of the Sassafras River, where Betterton Landing provides access to the river’s open waters. The Sassafras River Water Trail runs 18 miles from headwaters near the Route 301 Bridge to the river’s mouth between Grove Point and Howell Point, passing forested shorelines, farms, and high sandy cliffs before meeting the Chesapeake Bay. The trail follows parts of the routes of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail and the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail and is part of the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network. Betterton was once a major tourist destination with a boardwalk, bandstand, and numerous hotels, but construction of the Bay Bridge in the 1950s led tourists to bypass the Eastern Shore on the way to Ocean City.