Lewes, Delaware
| 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 in Sussex County and the state of 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 | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor | Theodore W. Becker | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 4.3 sq mi (11 km2) | |
| • Land | 3.7 sq mi (10 km2) | |
| • Water | 0.6 sq mi (2 km2) | |
| Elevation | 13 ft (4 m) | |
| Population (2010) | ||
| • Total | 2,747 | |
| • Density | 742.4/sq mi (286.6/km2) | |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) | |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) | |
| ZIP code | 19958 | |
| Area code(s) | 302 | |
| GNIS feature ID | 214214 | |
| Website | City of Lewes Delaware Website | |
Lewes /ˈluːᵻs/ 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.
The area was slow to resettle, but a new settlement gradually regrew around the Hoernkills. In late December 1673, when the area was briefly held again by the Dutch, the settlement was attacked and burned down again by soldiers from the English colony of Maryland. In 1680, under the authority of James Stuart, Duke of York, who had been granted such authority by his brother, King Charles II, the village (and county) was reorganized and known for two years as New Deale, Deale County, Delaware. A log courthouse was authorized to be built at this time. A Church of England congregation was established by 1681 and a Presbyterian church was built in 1682.
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