About the Lewes Historical Society
The Lewes Historical Society was organized in 1962 by residents troubled by the loss of old buildings as development reached the Delaware coast. More than six decades later it is steward of thirteen properties in Lewes, the town founded by the Dutch in 1631 that calls itself the First Town in the First State. In the summer of 2024 the organization adopted the public name Historic Lewes; the society remains the legal entity behind it, and its mission still reads preservation, interpretation, research, and publication.
Its signature is the Historic Lewes Town Campus at Second and Shipcarpenter Streets, assembled over the years as threatened buildings from around the region were moved onto the lot and restored. The result is a one-block survey of Sussex County architecture: the Plank House (c. 1700), the Wiltbank-Watts/Hiram Rodney Burton House (c. 1720), the Stockley-Street House (c. 1740), the Burton-Ingram House (c. 1785), the Ellegood House (c. 1800), a c. 1790 building now run as the Lewistown Coffee-House, Thompson Country Store (c. 1800), the Doctor's Office (c. 1836), and the Midway School (c. 1898). The campus is also home to the Sussex Tavern.
Three museums stand elsewhere in town. The Ryves Holt House Museum and Mercantile (c. 1686) is at 218 Second Street. The Cannonball House Maritime Museum (c. 1740-50) at 118 Front Street takes its name from the British cannon fire it absorbed when Lewes was bombarded during the War of 1812. The U.S. Life-Saving Service Boat House (c. 1884) at 229 Pilottown Road sits on the bank of the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal and is temporarily closed for restoration. The newest addition is the Lewes History Museum in the Margaret H. Rollins Community Center at 101 Adams Avenue, with permanent and changing exhibitions on the wider Lewes region.
Collections and Research Services
The society's archives are housed with the Lewes History Museum and are open to the public by appointment. Holdings include books, photographs, paintings, decorative arts, tools, and historical and genealogical records for Lewes and the surrounding area. To arrange a visit, contact archivist Denise Clemons at (302) 645-7670, ext. 104, or use the form on the archives page of the website. The society also runs a Genealogist in Residence program, maintains an online Graves Database of area burials, hosts a speaker series and Tavern Talks theater, and publishes an annual Journal of the Lewes Historical Society that members receive. If you are tracing a Sussex County family or an old Lewes house, start with our guides to free family-history research and finding where someone is buried.
Planning Your Visit
The Town Campus is at 110 Shipcarpenter Street, Lewes, DE 19958; the office is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the main phone is (302) 645-7670. The museums keep seasonal hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., from April 1 through October 31, then Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., from November 1 through December 20. They close from December 21 through March 31, although the Sussex Tavern (Thursday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and the Lewistown Coffee-House (Friday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) operate year-round and the campus grounds are open daily from dawn to dusk. There is no admission charge; a $5 per-person donation is suggested. Members get free admission, a 10 percent discount in the shop and on walking tours, and the annual Journal. Guided walks covering lighthouses, cemeteries, and the historic district run in season; schedules are posted at historiclewes.org.
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