…continuing
with our road trip to the Delmarva Peninsula this past September.
The morning after we checked in to our hotel in Rehoboth, the sun came
out and we decided to drive just a few miles north to the town of Lewes
Delaware. It turned out to be a good
decision!
Anytime I
can get near water and ships…it’s a good time for me. As with trains, planes and automobiles, I’ve
always been drawn to ships. Lewes is an
excellent place from that viewpoint.
It’s located on Delaware Bay near the Atlantic Ocean and the Lewes and
Rehoboth Canal runs right through town.
The canal connects the Broadkill River and Delaware Bay to Rehoboth Bay
and its part of the Intracoastal Waterway.
One of
the first ships I spotted was the RV Hugh
R. Sharp, a 150 foot long research vessel that is operated by the
University of Delaware College of Earth, Ocean and Environment. The ship is part of the University-National
Oceanographic Laboratory System. This
mid-size research vessel is operated by a crew of 8 and it accommodates a
scientific party of 22 for up to 21 days at sea.
The M/V Del River was moored right next to
the RV Hugh R. Sharp. The good news is that this ship was moored and
not at sea. The 166 foot long M/V Del River was built in 1980 as a
pollution control vessel. While she is
still ‘on standby’, more crude oil and oil products are being shipped by rail
than by ship…and there have been many fewer oil spills.
This
ship, and other smaller vessels, are operated by the Delaware Bay and River
Cooperative. They are the ‘fire
department’ on standby just in case there is a spill. Day and night the M/V Del River is manned by a 4-person crew. She is equipped with 4,800 feet of ocean boom
for oil containment and she’s capable of recovering 13,750 barrels of oil per
day. The last major spill in Delaware Bay
took place in 2004 when 265,000 gallons of heavy crude oil leaked from a
Venezuelan tanker.
As we
followed the road along the canal/Intracoastal Waterway, we stopped to take a
look at the Maull House. It is the
oldest Lewes building still in its original location with the least
alterations. (Moving buildings seems to have been a ‘thing’ in Lewes)
The house
was built ca. 1737. The original
builder/owner sold it to a prominent bay and river pilot. This would have been a prime location for
professional ship pilots. The area
around this home was in fact referred to as “Pilot Town”. In 1803, Jerome Bonaparte and his bride were
shipwrecked off Lewes and they were entertained at this home. Thomas Maull purchased the home in 1836 and
the house remained in the Maull family until 1957. Joseph Maull (1781 – 1845) served as Governor
of Delaware.
Proceeding
down the canal we came to the former Lightship
Overfalls (LV-118, also WAL-539) The 115 foot long Overfalls was built in 1938 at Boothbay Maine. She was the last ‘lightship’ built for the
United States Lighthouse Service before the Service became part of the United
State Coast Guard. When she was in
service, she had a crew of 14 that served on a 2 week on/1 week off basis. Her light was a duplex 375 14.8 inch lantern
on a 57 foot mast.
In fact,
when she was donated to the Lewes Historical Society and put on display in
Lewes, she was painted for the “OVERFALLS” station although she never served
there. The lightship that actually
served on the Overfalls station is actually on display in Portsmouth Virginia.
The now
designated Lightship Overfalls now
serves as a museum. To learn more, go to
Home - Overfalls.
The Lewes
Life-Saving Station Boathouse in located near the Lightship Overfalls. The
Lewes Life-Saving Station was established in 1884 as part of the United States
Life-Savings Service and the facility included this boathouse. In 1915, the USLSS was merged with the
Revenue Cutter Service and the Coast Guard was formed. The actual Lewes Life-Saving Station was
eventually moved to Rehoboth Beach where it still serves as the Rehoboth Beach’s
VFW building.
The Lewes
Life-Saving Station Boathouse currently houses 2 Monomoy surfboats, a
‘life-car’, beach cart and a Lyle Gun.
Other displays explain some of the history of the Life-Saving Service as
well as the use of the Lyle Gun and the breeches buoys, equipment that was used
to rescue shipwreck survivors.
Lewes is
also one end or port for a relatively long ferry crossing. It’s about 17 miles across the mouth of
Delaware Bay from Lewes Delaware to Cape May New Jersey. This ferry service began on July 1,
1964. More than 17,000,000 vehicles and
45,000,000 passengers have crossed the mouth of the Bay since operations began.
Today
this cross bay service operates 3 different ferry boats…the M/V Delaware, the
M/V New Jersey and the M/V Cape Henlopen. (The latter pictured above) It takes about 85
minutes to cross from Lewes to Cape May.
We didn’t really have time to take this trip and reservations are
required. I don’t know what summer fares
are but the current winter fares are $39.00 round trip for a car and $11.00
each roundtrip for seniors.
To learn
more and to plan your mini-cruise across Delaware Bay, just go to Ferry
with Us | Cape May-Lewes Ferry (cmlf.com).
The Touch
of Italy Restaurant and many other buildings along a very shopper friendly
commercial district along Market Street and others in the center of Lewes. This restaurant is located at 101 2nd
Street but I couldn’t find anything about the building. I didn’t know it at the time but another
Touch of Italy location was in our future.
In any case, the entire shopping area had a friendly warm look to it,
with lots of flowers and everything being well maintained.
To learn
about this restaurant, go to Touch of Italy -
Lewes - Lewes Beach, Lewes, DE (touchofitalylewes.com).
This
former 6 bedroom/4 bath home has been a restaurant for quite a while. The home was built in 1894 and it is an
outstanding example of the many Victorian, Queen Anne and Second Empire homes
that comprise much of the Lewes Historic District.
Currently
this former home at 102 2nd Street now serves as the Bramble and
Brine Restaurant. This restaurant opened
in 2021 and based on the reviews, it definitely looks like a great place to
dine. Website: Bramble
& Brine – Bramble & Brine at The Buttery (bramble-brine.com).
This is
the same home as it appeared before the owners of Bramble and Brine apparently purchased
it for $1,650,000 (Information from a real estate website) in March of
2021. It had been the site of the 2nd
Street Tavern. Interior photos from the
real estate website show that it still had much of its original woodwork and
layout...
This
fantastical structure looks old but it is a relatively ‘new’ building in
Lewes. Built in 1932, the Zwaanendael
Museum was created to honor to 300th anniversary of Delaware’s first
European settlement. That settlement was
in 1631 and it was named Zwaanendael.
The museum itself, with its 17th Century Dutch elements, is
modeled after the former City Hall in Hoorn, Netherlands. The statue at the top of the structure is of
David Pietersen de Vries, the leader of the expedition that first settled
here. FYI, Zwaanendael or Swaanendael is
archaic Dutch for “Swan Valley”.
The
museum’s exhibits cover the history of Sussex County Delaware and they include
not only local events but also shipwrecks, lighthouses, the bombardment of
Lewes in the War of 1812, pilots of the Delaware River and the Bay and much
more. To learn more, just go to Zwaanendael Museum - Division of Historical and Cultural
Affairs - State of Delaware.
Yes we
did some shopping! Lots of shops were
available but this was my favorite. The
Lewes Mercantile Antiques Mall featured a multitude of dealers with
significantly better than average antiques, vintage collectibles and more,
including lighting, furniture, art, glassware, jewelry and much more.
The Lewes
Antique Mercantile Gallery is located at 109 2nd Street in the
center of town. They have been in
business since the fall of 1991. To
learn more, go to Lewes Mercantile
Antiques Home | Lewes Mercantile Antiques (antiqueslewes.com).
The Walsh
Building at 108 2nd Street was built in 1930 on the lot that used to
house carnivals sponsored by the Lewes Fire Department. The building was home to a 5 and 10 cent
store in the 1940s. In the 1950s it was
occupied by an A&P Grocery Store.
Prior to 2021 the space, which is now the home of the Lewes Oyster
House, served at Jerry’s Seafood for 16 years.
To learn more about Lewes Oyster House, just go to Lewes
Oyster House | Tavern on 2nd Street.
This old
bank building is located at 134 2nd Street in Lewes. The Sussex Trust Company was founded in 1898
as reflected on the name carved in granite at the top of the structure. However, the date shown was the date the bank
was founded, not the date of this impressive façade. Sussex Trust Company actually moved to this
location in 1911. The company was
absorbed by another banking firm in 1983 and, as you can see its now an M&T
bank branch office.
The Lewes
Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It consists of 122 contributing buildings and
6 contributing sites. The District encompasses
most of the 17th century town of Lewes as well as part of the old
Pilot Town area. Lewes has a population
of only about 3,300.
As I mentioned
previously, we found Lewes to be a friendly and well maintained little town… We
enjoyed wandering the streets, going in and out of stores, browsing with a
little buying too. Bonnie and Bill posed
for this photo in a colorful little pocket park in the center of town.
Lewes
lays claim to be “The First Town in The First State”. As previously stated, a whaling and trading
post named Zwaanendael was established by Dutch settlers on June 3, 1631. However, this first settlement was short
lived. A local tribe of indigenous natives
(Lenape Indians), killed all 32 settlers in 1632. Another Dutch settlement was established in
1663 but it only lasted until 1664. That’s
when the English captured ‘New Netherland’ from the Dutch. They ordered that the settlement be razed with
reports that ‘not even a nail’ was left there.
In 1682, King Charles II gave the Delaware colonies to William Penn as
payment for a family debt...
This eye-catching
house of worship is St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. It’s located close to the center of
Lewes. The church parish was founded in
1708 although members of the Church of England (Anglican) had settled in the
area beginning around 1680. The first
iteration of St. Peter’s Church was built ca. 1721 and this structure replaced
it.
The
current church building was consecrated in 1858 but the church was probably
completed prior to that. Episcopal churches
can only be consecrated once all of the building debts have been paid. That steeple was added in 1870. The original communion table from the 1721
church is now used as the altar in this church.
In addition, the church also has the original Book of Common Prayer used
by the first congregation. For more
information, go to Saint Peter's
Episcopal Church | Home (stpeterslewes.org).
Just
click on any of the photos to enlarge them…
Thanks
for stopping by for a visit!
Take
Care, Big Daddy Dave
