Lewes

City in southeastern Delaware, on Delaware Bay just west of Cape Henlopen; population (1990 est) 2,300. It has long been Delaware's maritime centre. In the 20th century it became a sport fishing centre, but fish factories and mosquitoes prevented it from becoming a popular tourist destination until the 1960s.

Settled by the Dutch in 1631 as Swanendael or Zwaanendael, the first European settlement in Delaware, it became Lewes after 1682. It has Coast Guard and marine studies facilities, and is the terminus for a ferry from Cape May, New Jersey.