Zwaanendael Museum honors Lewes’ origins

The Zwaanendael House was built in commemoration of Delaware’s first European colony, Swanendael, established by the Dutch in 1631. Now known as the Zwaanendael Museum, the historic building serves as a showcase for the Lewes area’s maritime, military and social history. This is an unused monochrome postcard from the days when Savannah Road was known as State Street. The statue atop the building is of David Pietersen de Vries, leader of the expedition that founded Swanendael. De Vries is also honored elsewhere in town, specifically the de Vries Monument on Pilottown Road near the University of Delaware campus. It is believed de Vries and his crew landed near the monument’s location to form a whale hunting station and agricultural settlement. The settlers of Swanendael, meaning "Valley of the Swans," crossed the Atlantic in the Walvis. The settlers were killed and the buildings destroyed as a result of a cultural misunderstanding between the Dutch and Native people in the area.