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aware:
Compact but Compelling by Susan McKee
Delaware
is improbably shaped and ridiculously small, just 2,044 square miles. Only 96
miles long and averaging 39 miles wide, it is one of those East Coast states you
can visit in a day. Yet, it was the setting for many of the key experiences that
shaped America.
I
set aside almost a week in early summer last year to explore the first state to
ratify the United States Constitution, a place that was home to three signers
of the Declaration of Independence, one of the first areas of conflict between
European colonists and native tribes, and a region wrestled over by a half dozen
groups of rival claimants over the years. Although
Henry Hudson had seen the region a year earlier, while sailing for the Dutch,
he didn't pay much attention. An Englishman, Samuel Argall, encountered the area
quite by accident a year later. Sir Thomas West, the first governor of the Virginia
colony, had sent him to explore the Atlantic coast north of Jamestown. Blown off
course in a storm, Argall found himself in a large bay that he cleverly named
for his patron - better known as the third Lord de la Warr. That
nobleman returned to England without ever visiting his namesake territory, but
left his moniker behind. Colonists used "Delaware" not only to denote
the bay, but the river, the area and the native peoples who lived there. They
didn't call themselves the Delaware until decades later. In the 17th century,
they were the Lenape, usually translated as "original people". The
English had a minor role in Delaware in the beginning (although all three counties
in the state now bear British place names). The
first permanent settlement was Dutch, established near what is now Lewes, in 1631
- so, that's where I started my journey.
I
arrived in Delaware on a ferry from Cape May, NJ, - an especially appropriate
way to enter a town settled by seafaring people. A small group under the leadership
of Capt. Peter Heyes established the first community on the site, Zwaanendael
("Valley of Swans in Dutch) in 1631. (CONTINUE...)
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