The mysterious Uncle Peter of Lewes was a friend of all in town
Michael Morgan
In his shack on the creek side of Front Street lived a man known as “Uncle Peter.” Fluent in several languages, old Peter was sometimes called upon to act as a translator for some of the foreign crews of ships that stopped at Cape Henlopen.
He delighted in entertaining visitors in his modest home by telling tales of his European adventures. Who was Uncle Peter?
When Uncle Peter passed away in 1898, the Wilmington newspaper, The Sun, reported, “More or less mystery surrounds the antecedents of a curious old chap who asserted that he had lived more than a century, and who died at Lewes, Del., near the Breakwater, a few days ago.