The Retreat at King Cole Farm

The Retreat at King Cole Farm sits on 654 acres of working farmland between Dover and the Delaware Bay. Corn and soybeans are still grown here, and the property backs up to the Little Creek Wildlife Refuge.

The farm takes its name from the King Cole Canning Company, once owned by Harry and Audrey Owens Draper, who saw the land as a place where friends and family could gather, away from the rest of the world. In 2003 Sally Draper Dickerson and Chester T. Dickerson Jr. built The Residence, followed by the Pole Barn in 2006. The buildings were their home and farming operation, and their halls filled with weddings, anniversaries and family reunions. They wished the property to stay operating for generations, and the family carries that on today.

The Retreat is where guests stay. It has 12 park model cottages of 300 square feet, each with a full kitchen, a master bedroom and a bunk room, sleeping up to seven. One cottage is wheelchair accessible and sleeps six. There are also six RV sites, each with a 60' x 13' pad and full hookup. Tents are not permitted, and stays run from two nights to two weeks. Picnic benches, community grills and fire pits, and covered porches look out over the fields.

Gatherings happen across the wider farm. The Garden Room, a climate-controlled chapel and pavilion added in 2026, hosts micro weddings of up to 80 people, rehearsal dinners, milestone celebrations, showers, and corporate events and fundraisers for up to 150. The 9,200-square-foot Pole Barn seats up to 300. The farm also hosts corporate retreats and meetings.