Caching Around the Lewes, DE Area 9/22/2009

Tuesday morning we were awakened to the pounding of piles for the new bridge so we ate and were off to Lewes, DE for some caching. Lewes was the first town in the first state and was the site of the first European settlement in Delaware, a whaling and trading post that Dutch settlers founded on 3 June 1631 and named Zwaanendael (Swan Valley). The colony had a short existence, as a local tribe of Lenni Lenape Indians wiped out the 32 Dutch settlers in 1632. On 5 and 6 April 1813, during the War of 1812, British naval vessels led by HMS Poictiers under the command of Captain Sir John Poo Beresford briefly and ineffectually bombarded the town. A cannonball from the bombardment is lodged in the foundation of Cannonball House, which now serves as the town's maritime museum. In 1941, the US built Fort Miles on Cape Henlopen, near Lewes, to defend Delaware Bay and the Delaware River and the oil refineries and factories on their shores, as well as the city of Philadelphia. It was one of the largest and most heavily armed coastal fortifications ever built. Fort Miles never saw any major action; it only fired its guns once between its establishment and the end of World War II. Fort Miles ceased operation altogether in 1991.
First cache was next to a fairway on a golf course, second was near a fountain in a small park near the Chamber of Commerce. Next cache was in the 1812 Memorial Park. The 1812 Memorial Park was developed to commemorate the defense of Lewes against a two-day bombardment by the British fleet on April 6-7, 1813. A 74-gun frigate, the Poictiers, one ship of the line, the Belvidere, and a schooner attacked the town and demanded fresh provisions from the Lewes community. They were refused by Col. Samuel Boyer Davis, commander of American troops in Lewes. Because so many trees obstructed the view of the attackers, very few cannon shots actually struck property and the final damage was very little. One shot did hit the door of Caleb Rodney's store, another struck the Rowland House on Front Street, and another hit the McIlvaine home in Gills Neck. But the only casualties were a chicken that was killed and a pig whose leg was broken. Fourth cache and fifth caches were along the beach, next was a cache in the woods at the University of Delaware Research Facility, next was one in a condo/shopping area like the Commons in MB, next a Food Lion cache, next a cache at Lowe's in the storm drain and the last cache of the day was at Home Depot in a pine tree. This container was so original as it was a baby dinosaur hatching out of an egg. We stopped at the store for a few things and then at A & W for lunch and then back to the coach for the afternoon.
Well time to close for today so until next time we love and miss you all.