Beginning with the Burton-Ingram House in 1962, the Complex now includes twelve historic buildings that represent varied aspects and eras of Lewes life through nearly four centuries of recorded history. From the refined elegance of the Hiram Rodney Burton and Burton-Ingram Houses to the raw, stark realities of life by the sea reflected in the Cannonball House and Lewes Life-Saving Station Boathouse, the Lewes Historical Society is proud of the town it represents and the people whose memory is kept alive by it.

Just as Lewes has changed over the past forty years, so has the Society. “Our needs are changing,” Society president George Elliott explains. “So many people move here because of the history, because of what we have been able to save and restore. We’ve saved as much of our past as we have been able.” Elliott pauses a moment as he looks out the Society office window toward Pilottown Road and the canal. “In a lot of ways, the Society and many residents have restored most of the historic buildings in Lewes. Now it seems as if our mission is to preserve the essence of this place. The rapid development Lewes has been experiencing really underscores our continuing effort to document Lewes’ past and, really, its present.”

The present, not just for Lewes but for the historical society as well, has meant the enormous support of the community in countless hours of volunteerism throughout the course of each and every of the past forty years. While the volunteer base has continually grown larger, the range of tasks that confronts the Society has widened twice as fast. In the late summer of 2001, the Society welcomed its first Executive Director, Michael DiPaolo. But the growth and the associated work in maintaining and nurturing all the accomplishments of the past forty years do not stop there. “We’ll keep going,” DiPaolo says. “We will continually find ways to reach out to the community, to reach out to the kids. We need to continually be documenting Lewes and the Cape Region. Without the wonderful donations of paintings, furnishings, papers, photographs and ephemera over the past forty years, the Society – and Lewes’ collective memory – would be far poorer.”

Far poorer indeed. The Lewes Historical Society is celebrating its fortieth anniversary in 2002 and hopes that you would like to be a part of the celebration. In the coming weeks and months, look for articles not only about Lewes history, but about some of the wonderful collections maintained by the Society, our programs and a little bit more about what’s going on at the corner of Third & Shipcarpenter Streets. If you have questions about photographs, books, ephemera or other artifacts you might like to donate to the Society or how to view our archival, library and museum collections, or would like information about membership, please call us at 302-645-7670.

©2002-2005 The Lewes Historical Society