Delaware’s first town is nearly 400 years old, with a cannonball still in the wall

It’s called the First Town in the First State

Lewes sits right where the Delaware Bay opens into the Atlantic, a quiet coastal town of about 3,500 people that most travelers blow past on their way to Rehoboth Beach. That’s a mistake.

Dutch colonists founded this place in 1631, and nearly four centuries of history have piled up in layers you can actually touch. A cannonball from the War of 1812 is still lodged in the side of a house.

A World War II fort guards the cape. And a 5,000-acre state park wraps around the edge of town like it was built just for you.

Two beaches, two oceans, one park

Cape Henlopen State Park covers about 5,000 acres right where the bay meets the Atlantic, and that split gives you two completely different beach days.

The bay side has calm, flat water where kids can wade without getting knocked down. Walk to Herring Point on the ocean side, and surfers and anglers line the shore.

Lifeguards work the main beach from Memorial Day through Labor Day, and the park stays open year-round, so you can come back in October when the crowds disappear.

Bike past a 900-acre lagoon full of migrating birds

Cape Henlopen has more than 10 miles of trails for biking and hiking, but the Gordon’s Pond Trail is the one to put first on your list.

It runs about five miles and connects the Lewes and Rehoboth Beach areas, passing salt marshes, pine forests, sandy stretches, and an elevated boardwalk with long views over the water.

Gordon’s Pond itself covers 900 acres and ranks as one of only four spots in North America considered a migration superhighway for waterfowl.

The Seaside Nature Center even runs a free borrow-a-bike program.

Climb a WWII tower with views in every direction

Fort Miles went up in 1941 to keep enemy ships out of the Delaware Bay and protect Philadelphia, its oil refineries, and its factories upriver.

Today, you can walk through the artillery park, step inside the barracks, and tour the Battery 519 Museum.

The highlight is a restored fire control observation tower that gives you a full 360-degree sweep of coastline, bay, and open ocean.

The military handed the land over to Delaware in 1964, and the state turned the whole thing into a park.

Hold a horseshoe crab older than the dinosaurs

The Seaside Nature Center inside Cape Henlopen has aquariums and a touch tank where you can pick up horseshoe crabs, whelks, and other creatures that live in the bay.

The Delaware Bay holds the world’s largest horseshoe crab spawning grounds, and in May and June, thousands of them crawl ashore along the beaches to lay eggs.

The species has looked more or less the same for over 300 million years. That means the animal in your hands outlasted the dinosaurs by a wide margin.

Spot dolphins from the Hawk Watch overlook

Dolphins show up regularly in the Delaware Bay, and one of the best places to watch for them is the Hawk Watch overlook at Cape Henlopen. Morning and dusk give you the best odds.

Every spring, thousands of migratory shorebirds pour in along the bay to feed on horseshoe crab eggs. Red knots, ruddy turnstones, and sanderlings all pass through on their way to Arctic breeding grounds.

Keep your eyes up, too. Osprey, bald eagles, and great egrets patrol the park and the ferry route year-round.

A British cannonball from 1813 never left the house

The Cannonball House, built around 1765, still carries a scar from the War of 1812. On April 6 and 7 of 1813, the British Royal Navy shelled Lewes for about 22 hours straight.

One cannonball hit the house and stayed there, lodged in the foundation where you can still see it today. The Lewes Historical Society now runs it as a maritime museum.

Directly across the street, War of 1812 Park marks the site of one of two forts that defended the town during the attack.

Step inside a Dutch building straight from the Netherlands

The Zwaanendael Museum looks like something you’d find on a canal in Holland, not on a street in Delaware.

Built in 1931 for the town’s 300th anniversary, the building copies the old town hall in Hoorn, Netherlands, right down to its stepped facade.

A statue of David Pietersen de Vries, the leader of the original 1631 expedition, sits on top. Inside, exhibits trace the area’s maritime, military, and social history from the 1600s forward.

Admission is free.

Tour a floating lighthouse on the canal

The Lightship Overfalls sits moored along the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal at Canalfront Park, and it’s one of only 17 lightships left in the country.

Built in 1938 for the U.S. Lighthouse Service, it worked as a floating lighthouse along the East Coast until 1972. In 2011, it earned National Historic Landmark status.

Guided tours take you above and below decks to see how the crew lived. The park around the ship has a kayak launch, a playground, a boardwalk, and summer concerts.

Ride the ferry 17 miles across the Delaware Bay

The Cape May-Lewes Ferry has been running since July 1, 1964, and more than 50 million passengers have made the crossing. The ride covers 17 miles of open bay and takes about 85 minutes.

In summer, the schedule runs up to 13 sailings a day, and the ferry carries both passengers and vehicles. From the deck, you can spot dolphins, lighthouses, and shorebirds, and occasionally a whale surfaces.

It drops you in Cape May, New Jersey, which makes a day trip between the two states simple.

Shop tax-free on Second Street

Second Street is the center of downtown Lewes, and every purchase you make in Delaware is tax-free. No sales tax, period.

The street is lined with boutiques, antique shops, and galleries, and you can walk straight from the storefronts down to Canalfront Park and the waterfront.

From late spring through early fall, the Historic Lewes Farmers Market sells fresh produce, baked goods, and local crafts.

The area has earned the nickname “Culinary Coast” for its concentration of seafood restaurants and farm-to-table spots.

Walk a campus of 12 museum buildings from the 1700s

The Lewes Historical Society keeps 12 museum buildings on its Shipcarpenter Street campus, with structures dating from the early 1700s through the 1800s. Each one tells a different piece of the town’s story.

Over on Second Street, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church goes back to 1681, and two Delaware governors rest in its churchyard. Kayaking, paddleboarding, and fishing fill the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal and the bay.

Lewes was once one of the country’s largest fishing ports, and the pilots who guide ships through the bay still call it home.

Explore Lewes, Delaware

You can reach Lewes in about two hours from Philadelphia or three hours from Washington, D.C. The town sits in Sussex County at the southern tip of the Delaware Bay.

Cape Henlopen State Park starts right at the edge of town, and the Cape May-Lewes Ferry terminal is just minutes from downtown. If you want more beach time, Rehoboth Beach is a 15-minute drive south on Route 1.

Give yourself at least a full weekend here, because trying to squeeze nearly 400 years of history into one afternoon won’t work.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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