Mile 1292 - Lewes, DE

Twenty-two years after it was discovered by Henry Hudson in 1609, the point of land separating the Atlantic Ocean from the Delaware Bay, now known as Cape Henlopen, was selected by the Dutch as a site for a whaling station. It was not an auspicious undertaking. The thirty-two settlers were massacred by a local tribe of the Lenni Lenape Indians as a result of a dispute over a Dutch coat of arms the settlers had mounted on their settlement.

In 1682, the land which now comprises the State of Delaware was conveyed to William Penn by the English Courts.

But the travail was not over yet. The town was visited by Captain Kidd and other pirates as late as 1698. And then during the War of 1812, a British frigate bombarded the town. The casualties were a wounded pig and a dead hen. One of the town buildings still proudly wears an embedded cannonball from the bombardment.


The Zwaanendael Museum, Lewes, Delaware

This museum is a showcase for Lewes-area maritime, military, and social history. Modeled after the town hall in Hoorn, the Netherlands. Can you say "Zwaanendael"?


Cape May - Lewes Ferry

More than 11 million vehicles and 34 million passengers have crossed the 17-mile mouth of Delaware Bay via vessels of Cape May-Lewes Ferry during its interesting 40-year history of operations that began July 1, 1964.

The Delaware River and Bay Authority approved the $4 million purchase of 7 ferry vessels from the Chesapeake Bay and Tunnel District. However, by the time they got a round to it, they only purchased four of seven ferry vessels at a cost of $3.3 million. Figures, huh?.

It will take me 2 and 1/2 days to "walk" across the Delaware Bay.