Lewes history on display at new museum

The new Lewes History Museum, in the old Lewes Public Library on Adams Avenue, will bring hundreds of years of Lewes history back to life, showcasing long-stored artifacts while telling stories of days forgotten. 

“I don’t think there’s a space like this south of Dover,” said Lewes Historical Society Executive Director Mike DiPaolo from within the museum as he oversaw the final stages of the renovation. “Having exhibit space like this, both permanent and temporary, is pretty amazing.” 

The new museum is set to open to the public Monday, July 3. Consuming most of the Margaret H. Rollins Community Center, the museum will offer a 4,000-square-foot permanent exhibit, a smaller 700-square-foot temporary exhibit and an entire wing dedicated to children’s education (opening in the fall). 

The main exhibit will cover everything from pre-history and early Native Americans in the Cape Region to 20th century Lewes. 

“It will really cover the gamut and give people a great overview,” DiPaolo said. 

Some artifacts to be highlighted include a Native American canoe found in the Great Cypress Swamp near Selbyville, a 1960s sunfish sailboat and Eugene Bookhammer’s No. 2 license plate. 

While sections of the permanent exhibit are dedicated to specific eras, the space also highlights Lewes’ relationship to the Delaware Bay, the marsh and how it was connected to major events, such as the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.

“We wanted to use this space to be able to tell the story of how Lewes fits into the bigger world too,” DiPaolo said.

There are also sections dedicated to African-American life in Lewes and education. 

“We talk about education from the 17th century to the current Cape Henlopen School District,” he said. “We have some wonderful artifacts and images.”

DiPaolo said the society has been working with the school district to acquire old athletic memorabilia, such as jerseys and equipment. DiPaolo urges the community to consider loaning or donating items to the collection because they plan to change the exhibit to coincide with the current sports season.

The small temporary exhibit space was built in the former library offices. The first exhibit will feature Preston Schell’s collection of Delaware and Mid-Atlantic maps and charts, ranging from the early 17th century up to about 1900. 

The children’s wing will focus on educating children from 3 to 11 years old. The contents of the wing are still being refined, but DiPaolo said there will be nothing like it south of Wilmington. 

DiPaolo said many people will be happy to learn that the old library’s Delaware Room will remain intact, and it will serve as a reading and research room for people working with the historical society’s collection. 

The second floor of the building will eventually be home to the Hazel Brittingham Collections Center, where the historical society will store nearly all of its collection – 10,000 artifacts, 4,000 library volumes, 30,000 documents and 100,000 photographs, negatives and slides. 

“That's the part I’m most excited about,” DiPaolo said. “The volume of space we’ll have compared to what we have now in other places is staggering.” 

The historical society’s collection is spread out over three off-site, climate-controlled storage units, second-floor space in the Hiram Rodney Burton House and in several storage nooks scattered throughout the rest of the society’s properties. 

Even with everything moved into the new collection center, DiPaolo estimates it will only be 30 to 35 percent full. 

"That leaves us plenty of space to grow,” he said. “Every day the town gets a little older and there are a lot of things out there. People in the community will still be producing documents and records and finding artifacts, and we’ll be looked at to properly store them.” 

A grand opening celebration will be held at 10 a.m., Monday, July 3. The museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., July 3, then 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., daily, beginning Wednesday, July 5.