Is Delaware the center of the known world?

Mike Berger
Special to Salisbury Daily Times

For reasons that escape me, recently I’ve been spending more time at home than I previously did. This isn’t as much of a problem as you might think. After all, where we live is the center of the known world, or at least the Mid-Atlantic portion of it.    

As sure as the sun revolves around the earth (forgive me, I did not have the benefit of a Cape Henlopen education), it has been that way for over 200 years.    

You want proof?

During the curiously named three-year War of 1812, the British bombarded the seaside town of Lewes in 1813.  In so doing, they acknowledged the centrality of that town to their military plans, since they attacked it before moving on to the nation’s capital in 1814.

Peaches from Bennett Orchards.

Interestingly, they failed to capture Lewes, but subsequently easily occupied Washington, D.C. and burned it to the ground, much to the consternation, but not the conflagration, of Dolley Madison. 

As historical lore would have it, Dolley, not to be confused with the Dolle of Rehoboth boardwalk fame, rescued a life-size, oil portrait of George Washington from the White House. In doing so, she inadvertently created the nationwide Art in Gloom movement.

With the end of the War of 1812, Delawareans looked for new ways to maintain and publicize the state’s centrality. One of those ways was to cultivate and export peaches.  The first peach orchards were planted in 1831 or 1832 in Delaware City, one of those curious places that is a city in name only.    

1831 also happens to be the year in which the first of a series of Mispillion Lighthouses was erected on the river of the same name near Milford, designed and built, interestingly, by one Winslow Lewes. 

In 2002, the last of the Mispillion Lighthouses was effectively destroyed by a lightning-induced fire. A few years later, a portion of what was left of that structure was used to construct a replica of the lighthouse as part of a residence built in Shipcarpenter Square in, you guessed it, Lewes. 

But I digress — back to our fruitful discussion.

By the end of the 19th century, Delaware had over 800,000 peach trees, count ‘em, 800,000, many of them in Sussex County, and had become one of the largest peach producing states in the nation.    

More: 

If you had a dollar for each of those trees today, you might not be able to purchase waterfront property in our region free and clear (of peach trees), but you might have enough for a down payment for a house on the beach. 

Additionally in the late 1800s, area fishermen, I’m afraid there were precious few fisherwomen, enlarged the extent of commercial fishing. They began to catch prodigious numbers of menhaden, in addition to other, more palatable, seafood.   

By 1953, Lewes was the largest seafood port in the United States. It processed over 390 million pounds of seafood per year, 360 million of which were the oily menhaden. 

As a result, approximately 92% of the catch was used to make fertilizer and animal feed, with only 8% sold for human consumption. Is it any wonder that it took another 50 years for the Culinary Coast to emerge?

More recently, and as a final indicator of the centrality of this state and region, I call your attention to a “bull's eye map” illustration that appears on the back of a visitors brochure produced by the Lewes Chamber of Commerce. 

Mike Berger

Distances to such cities as Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and even Boston, MA and Charlotte, NC, are measured in concentric circles radiating out from Lewes, to a distance of 500 miles.  Seems right to me.

Despite the apparent and understandable “boosterism” of this visual representation, it may actually be the case that the Chamber set its cartological sights (or sites) too narrowly.

In that regard, while it may initially seem unrelated to our theme, we need to note the sad news that recently reached these shores from across the pond. British actress Honor Blackman has passed away at age 94.    

Blackman is well-known for her portrayal of the iconic Pussy Galore in the 1964 James Bond film "Goldfinger."  However, her primary significance to us is that she died in Lewes, England, the town from which Lewes, Delaware, derived its current name. 

All Lewesians, or should it be Lewesites?, are grateful for this connection, for it has saved them from the embarrassment of saying that they’re from Whorekill. 

Mike Berger is a freelance writer and retired university administrator with a home in Lewes. Contact him at edadvice@comcast.net.