Commemorates the establishment of the first permanent European presence on the Delaware Bay
1631
In 1631, a group of settlers under David Pietersz de Vries landed near this spot to form a whale hunting station and agricultural settlement. The settlers of Swanendael, meaning " Valley of the Swans," crossed the Atlantic in the Walvis.
A report to de Vries confirmed that thesettlers had been killed and the buildingsdestroyed as a result of a culturalmisunderstanding between the Dutch and Native people in the area.
The Original Inhabitants
(Picture included)
The inhabitants of the land previous to the Dutch arrival were of an Algonquian group called Cinconicins,written in early records as Sickoneyns, Siknoessink, Siconesius and Siconese, or Great Siconese. It is likely that the Great Siconese lived by hunting and the intensive gathering of a wide veriety of natural resources. The resources would have been seasonally available in the forests, in numerous streams and along the coast.Our knowledge of these Native people comes from information recovered through scientific investigation of archaeological sites in the Lewes area, and from information obtained in historicalrecords dating from the colonial period.
Dutch Arrival
(Picture included)
In 1609, Henry Hudson sailed into theDelaware Bay, in search for the NorthwestPassage to China. His voyages contributedto the establishment of European coloniesin North American. One of these, calledNew Netherland, was established by theDutch. New Netherland included presentday New York, New Jersey, and Delaware.The Delaware River, known as the SouthRiver in the seventeenth centry, formedthe southern boundry of New Netherland.
In 1629, Gillis Hossitt and Jacob Jansz,agents of the Dutch West India Company,traveled to the Delaware area to'purchase' land from the Native Americans.The concept of land ownership wasforeign to the Native Americans, who weremore familiar with the concept of gifting.A tract of land, eight Dutch miles long andhalf a Dutch mile in width, was acquired bythe Dutch in exchange for cloth, axes, adzes, beads, and various other goods. A patent was registered and confirmed in 1630.
In Amsterdam, Samuel Godyn gained the rights to settle the new territory andarranged for "patroons" to investin the project. David Pietersz de Vrieswas given general administration of thecolony from Holland. [Picture included:Landing of the DeVries Colony at Swanendael, Lewes, Delaware 1631 byStanley M. Arthurs] Captain Peter Heyes was to command the Walvis and companyagent Gillis Hossitt was to be in directcharge of administering the settlement on site. The purpose of the settlementwas " to carry out the whale fisheryin that region, and to pant a colony for the cultivation of all sorts of grain, forwhich the country is very well suitedand of tobacco." ( Journal of de Vries)
1909
Dedicated on September 22, 1909
Placed on the National Register of HistoricPlaces on February 23, 1972
Swanendael
On December 12th, 1630, the Walvis departed Holland with twenty-eight men and supplies to build a colony. After dropping off some supplies and passengers in the West Indies, the Walvis reached Blommert's Kill, later named Hoerenkil (modern day Lewes Creek). The settlers constructed a palisade, dormitory, and cook house. In September, Peter Heyes departed for Amsterdam in the Walvis, leaving Hossitt to run the colony.
In 1632, de Vries prepared to set sail with two vessels bearing additional settlers and supplies for the settlement. Before they departed, however, news relating to the destruction of the colony by local Native Americans postponed the trip.Sailing on May 24th with the Walvis (whale) and the Teencoorntgen(little squirrel) with fifty men, de Vries came upon the burned settlement on December 5th, 1632.
After asking a local Native American what had happened, de Vries wrote the following in his journal: " He then shoed us the place where our people had set up a column, to which was fastened a piece of tin, whereupon the arms of Holland were painted. One of their chiefs took this off for the purpose of making tobacco pipes, not knowing that he was doing amiss. Those in command at the house made such ado about it, that the Indians, not knowing how it was, went away and slew the chief how [sic] had done it, and brought a token of the dead to the house to those in command, who told them that they wished they had not done it, that they should have brought him to them, as they wished to have forbidden him to do the like again.They then went away, and the friends of the murdered chief incited their friends... to set about the work of vengeance."
According to de Vries, the Native Americans came upon the settlement as the colonists were working outside the walls and "struck them down."
Although the colony lasted barely a year, the claiming of the territory fostered Dutch resettlement of the lower Delaware Valley. In 1655, after approximently twenty- four years, they would intensify settlement efforts. The South River, including the Lewes area, became a flourishing Dutch colonial area. The settlement at Lewes also included a Mennonite colony under Pieter Cornelisen Plockhoy by 1663.
As a result of political, economic, and military rivalries, in 1664 the Englished seized the Dutch holdings in New Netherland. Many Dutch settlers, however, remained and contributed to the political, social and economic development of the new English colony.(Picture included: Hand drawn map of Swanendael circa 1630s)
Comments 0 comments