Lewes, DE
| Lewes, Delaware | ||
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| City | ||
Second Street in downtown Lewes in 2006
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| Motto: "The First Town in The First State" | ||
 Location of Lewes in Sussex County, Delaware. |
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 Lewes
Lewes
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| Coordinates: 38°46′28″N 75°08′22″W / 38.77444°N 75.13944°WCoordinates: 38°46′28″N 75°08′22″W / 38.77444°N 75.13944°W | ||
| Country | United States | |
| State | Delaware | |
| County | Sussex | |
| Founded | June 3, 1631 | |
| Incorporated | February 2, 1818 | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor | Theodore W. Becker | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 4.72 sq mi (12.24 km2) | |
| • Land | 3.80 sq mi (9.85 km2) | |
| • Water | 0.92 sq mi (2.39 km2) | |
| Elevation | 13 ft (4 m) | |
| Population (2010) | ||
| • Total | 2,747 | |
| • Estimate (2016) | 3,074 | |
| • Density | 808.31/sq mi (312.07/km2) | |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) | |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) | |
| ZIP code | 19958 | |
| Area code(s) | 302 | |
| FIPS code | 10-41830 | |
| GNIS feature ID | 214214 | |
| Website | City of Lewes Delaware Website | |
Lewes (/ˈluːᵻs/ LOO-iss) is an incorporated city on the Delaware Bay in eastern Sussex County, Delaware. According to the 2010 census, the population is 2,747. Along with neighboring Rehoboth Beach, Lewes is one of the principal cities of Delaware's rapidly growing Cape Region. The city lies within the Salisbury, Maryland–Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. Lewes proudly claims to be "The First Town in The First State."
Lewes was the site of the first European settlement in Delaware, a whaling and trading post that Dutch settlers founded on June 3, 1631 and named Zwaanendael (Swan Valley). The colony had a short existence, as a local tribe of Lenape Native Americans wiped out the 32 settlers in 1632.
The area remained rather neglected by the Dutch until, under the threat of annexation from the English colony of Maryland, the city of Amsterdam made a grant of land at the Hoernkills (the area around Cape Henlopen, near the current town of Lewes) to a group of Mennonites for settlement in 1662. A total of 35 men were to be included in the settlement, led by a Pieter Cornelisz Plockhoy of Zierikzee and funded by a sizable loan from the city to get them established. The settlement was established in 1663, but the timing of the settlement was terrible: In 1664, the English wrested New Netherland from the Dutch, and they had the settlement destroyed with British reports indicating that “not even a nail” was left there.
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