I saw my friend off with plans for a few more days poking around Delaware. My first stop was the colorful Zwaanendael Museum, which is the historical museum of Lewes. The word is the original Dutch colony name for the town, which translates to Swan Valle. The museum explained that the original settlers initially developed a good relationship with the local Lenape people in 1631. When they built their fort, they decorated it with a unicorn, the symbol of their town in Holland. One of the Lenape took the unicorn, so the colonists asked the chief for its return. When the chief beheaded the thief and returned the unicorn, the Dutch colonists criticized him, so the Lenape wiped out all the colonists for their lack of commitment to justice. In time, more Dutch came and built a replica of the fort, which now houses the museum.
It was raining on the day I visited, and I had to head back to Philadelphia for meetings later in the day, so I headed away from the beach to the southwestern corner of the state to take in the Nanticoke River towns of Seaford, Laurel and Bethel. From a map, this seems like it would be out of the way, but in Delaware, everything is within three counties. The river area was Delaware’s wealthiest at the turn of the 20th century, and my guidebook offered up a historic homes tour by car, which seemed like a good idea on a rainy day. My first stop was Christ Church in Laurel, a building which was completed in 1772. I could not visit the interior, as the site was closed on Mondays. Like at St. Peter’s in Lewes, the graves were quite worn from age. I tried to visit the various homes on the tour, but I struggled to find my way in the rain. I saw some very cute river houses, but spent most of the day stuck in the car before heading back to my afternoon meetings in Philadelphia.