Beaches Are the Draw Where a Fort Once Stood in Delaware
But Lewes (pronounced Lewis), tucked between Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, is worth discovering — especially in September, when the crowds thin out and the ocean lapping at the wide beaches is at its warmest.

Just an hour and a half from Philadelphia and three and a half hours from New York, Lewes has long attracted summer beachgoers and vacation-home owners, but not in the numbers drawn to Rehoboth Beach, the best-known Delaware shore town. And Lewes has so far resisted touristy kitsch, somehow retaining its easy charm and friendly mid-Atlantic vibe, complete with long vowels, rustling corn fields and a dreamy slow pace.

With a canal running through downtown and a host of postcard-worthy Victorian houses, Lewes lies at the base of Cape Henlopen, which projects out into the Atlantic at the mouth of Delaware Bay. It dates from 1631, when Dutch settlers had a trading post there. During World War II, Fort Miles, out on the cape, was fortified with observation towers, barracks and numerous gun emplacements.

The guns were never fired during the war, but a German submarine did surrender at the fort in 1945. In 1964, Fort Miles was turned over to the state and became Cape Henlopen State Park — 500 acres that now contain biking and hiking trails, campgrounds and miles and miles of unspoiled beach. Visitors can climb an iron spiral staircase in one of the old observation towers for a view over the park and out to sea.

New York Times