LEWES 1935

LOOKING AROUND DELAWARE

LEWES 1935

At Cape Henlopen where the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic meet, back in 1631 ,

the first settlement of Delaware was established by a Dutch colony . The settlers called it

Fort Opdike. It did not last long as an Indian massacre wiped the entire garrison out.

New settlers a year later found nothing except bones and the ruins of the fort.

Four years later some English from Virginia and Maryland helped the Dutch

establish a permanent outpost there for New Amsterdam and called it Zwaanendael.

While under Dutch rule it was a thriving seaport . The British took it over in 1664.

The Dutch had erected the first court house outside New Amsterdam , now the city of New

York.

In the center of this settlement was a well with cool clear water where pirates, sailors,

all sea faring men of all description were among the picturesque people who quenched

their thirst at this gossip center. The “Jolly Roger” was a well known symbol to Lewes

in the days of freebooting and privateering.

Pirates at one time were welcomed, and it was a favorite haven for Captain Kidd

and Blackbeard who was a native son of the Delmarva Peninsula, name of Edward Teach.

Upon the Capes at Lewes stood the Cape Henlopen Light House, one of the new

worlds oldest , The light house saw the first and last naval battles of the Revolution, capture

of a party from the HMS Roebuck trying to prevent the landing of an American shipment of \ black powder and the capture of the British sloop of war, General Monk by the American

sloop of war, Hydler Alley in 1782.

Lewes was bombbarded during the War of 1812. In WW I Lewes received a

detachment of Coast Guard and a tanker was torpedoed and sunk by a German U boat

just south o Cape Henlopen.

Along Pilot Town Road there are many old homes, those of the river pilots. Lewes

had one of the first free schools in America and at an early time was the Sussex county seat.

St. Peters Episcopal Church, built in 1703, has a grave yard with tombs of

colonial dead and many seafaring men.

Lewes has yet to lose its nautical atmosphere and characteristic quaintness.

Abstract: Wilmington Morning News, Dec 11, 1935, Looking Around Delaware/ Lewes.