| 
aware:
Compact but Compelling by Susan McKee
Round one of the battle went to the
Lenape: all the Dutch were slaughtered and the town burned in 1632. But, new colonists
took their place.
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| The
Zwaanendael Museum. Built in 1931 in Lewes, to replicate the town hall of Hoorn
in the Netherlands. (Photo by Susan McKee) | I
spent a pleasant hour or so wandering the Zwaanendael Museum, built in 1931 to
replicate the town hall in Hoorn, hometown of the original settlers. It depicts
the region's history from its founding to the present. Lewes
is a quiet place now, but in its heyday, it was a rowdy whaling town - a port
of call for pirates including Captain Kidd. It was shelled by the British during
the War of 1812, and a cannonball remains lodged in the wall of the colonial-era
building that now houses a marine museum. Lewes
is on the coast of Sussex, the southernmost county in Delaware. It's just north
of Rehoboth Beach, location of a legendary outlet mall (which I didn't visit)
and an infamous seashell shop (which I did). Shopping, always a popular pastime
for tourists, is especially fashionable in Delaware because there is no sales
tax. Sea
Shell City, however, is one-of-a-kind private museum. Downstairs is the usual
selection of tourist tschotkes. Upstairs is the Discover Sea Shipwreck Museum,
which lures 90,000 visitors a year to see its 6,500 artifacts (only 10% of the
total collection). Where else could you find a 10-1/2 foot-long gold chain from
a Caribbean shipwreck alongside silverware from the Titanic? Dover,
the state capital, is in the middle of Kent County. Here, on Dec. 7, 1787, Delaware
was the first of the 13 original states to ratify the new Constitution of the
United States earning its nickname, "The First State". This
capital city is so small you can easily find a place to park at a meter on downtown
streets. I confess that I spent more time in the Johnson Victrola Museum than
touring the old 1792 statehouse. (Local son, E. R. Johnson founded the Victor
Talking Machine Company.) The listening room, with its unmatched collection of
early vinyl, is terrific.
After
Dover, I drove north to Wilmington. Originally settled by Swedes, it's the state's
largest city and the anchor for New Castle County. (CONTINUE...) |
