The coastal area where a development and the Delaware terminal for Cape May-Lewes Ferry now stand was once the site of a thriving, but foul-smelling industrial plant. Sam Russell, a carpenter by trade, supervised a crew of tradesmen-including German prisoners during World War II--who maintained and constructed the buildings at the enormous complex

Beginning in the 1940s, the first fish factories began production. By the mid 1950s, Lewes was one of the top fishing ports in the nation thanks to incoming shipments of menhaden fish, which were processes into fish meal and oil used in soap, paint and lipstick. Owner Otis Smith kept Russell busy expanding the facility: "He tore them down every year and built bigger ones. He couldn't produce enough of that stuff."

Only ten years later, the industry was all but dead when the menhaden disappeared from local waters and the processing plants moved south to Florida. The last remnants of the fish factories were demolished in 1983. The loss of the menhaden industry cleared the way for a new industry in Lewes which remains strong today: seaside tourism and development.

Menhaden Fisherman's Song Help Me To Raise 'Em from the CD Won't You Help Me Raise 'Em, Global Village Music, 1990. Courtesy Delaware Folklife Program.