Lewes, Delaware - Historical Highlights and Walking Tour

This beautiful book features numerous colorful glimpses into five remarkable centuries in the history of Lewes, Delaware, The First Town in the First State. Learn the story of the town's tragic first settlement in 1631, a short-lived whaling colony eradicated by the native Indians in little more than a year. Of the turbulent fifty year period from 1631 to 1682 when Lewes was claimed first by the Dutch, next by the British, and then by William Penn who annexed the city and surrounding territories as part of his ownership of Pennsylvania.

Lewes's strategic location at the mouth of the Delaware Bay has provided it an extraordinary chronicle which included raids by pirates, an invasion by the British during the Revolutionary War, bombardment by a British warship during the War of 1812, and the construction during World War II of the U.S Army's Fort Miles, a key fortification built to deter enemy submarines from entering Delaware Bay.

Discover early industries ranging from shipbuilding, to fishing and agriculture, to the earliest days of the 20th century when a small house located next to a major shipping pier was owned by a Miss Lil, whose four young women "house maids" provided certain recreations to seamen passing through.

This perfect-bound gem includes vignettes of important local historic figures, personal reminiscences and folklore from days gone by, the surprising history behind a number of historic landmarks that still stand, an annotated self-guided walking tour, including more than 20 color photographs, and a chronology of important events in the life of this wonderful town.

Proceeds from the sale of this book are used to preserve the historic Maull House in Lewes, a residence built in 1739 and now owned by the Colonel David Hall Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.