American Indian Towns of Sussex County, Delaware

On Saturday, October 14, 2023, at 1:00 p.m. the Milford Museum will continue its American History Series at the Milford Public Library with a program titled American Indian Towns of Sussex County, Delaware. Presented by archaeologist Daniel R. Griffith, this program will focus on the land in what is known today as Sussex County and how it was contested by competing English, Dutch, and Swedish colonies as well as sizable and influential communities of American Indians. Among the topics covered will be the archival and archaeological research that Griffith’s team used to find the location of significant American Indian towns in Sussex County. This research was based on Captain John Smith's three-day voyage up the Nanticoke River in June 1608 as well as English and Dutch records of Indian communities. Smith's map and writings showed three Indian towns: Nause, Nantiquack (now known as the Nanticoke) and Kuskarawaok or King's Town (where Indian leadership lived). Extensive archaeological surveys along historic maps and accounts have also revealed relevant sites in the Lewes area, where the Siconese and their town of Checonesseck were located.