Netherlands ambassador explores Lewes

A tulip tour was the just the beginning for Birgitta Tazelaar.

The Netherlands’ ambassador to the United States came to Lewes on Easter weekend to explore the city’s Dutch heritage. Her visit was an official part of the Lewes250 celebration.

Her visit was timed to coincide with the Lewes Tulip Festival, which boasts 31,000 tulips in bloom around town. Tulips are one of the Netherlands’ most well-known and beloved exports.

Tazelaar said there is much here that reminds her of home.

“The Zwaanendael House, which is 100% Dutch in terms of architecture, and the tulips, as well, and the coziness of the village. Dutch villages have the same coziness,” Tazelaar said.

Mayor Amy Marasco and Ed Zygmonski, Lewes in Bloom co-chair, led Tazelaar and her husband, Mark Singleton, on a walking tour.

Their first stop was the Lewes in Bloom tulip garden in Mary Vessels Park.

Next, they headed to the Historic Lewes Shipcarpenter Campus, where Bill Hicks showed them around and talked about the Dutch founding of Lewes in 1631.

“Giles Hossett sails into the creek with a boatload of men and boys, some cows and a dog, with the intention of founding a whaling colony,” Hicks explained. “The name of their ship was the Walvis, which means whale in Dutch.”

Tazelaar shared that the Declaration of Independence was printed on Dutch paper.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands will be coming to Washington, D.C., April 13-15, to meet President Donald Trump and mark the Dutch connection for America’s 250th birthday.

“I really value going to towns with a Dutch history to celebrate, [and] also the historic ties between the Netherlands and the U.S.,” Tazelaar said. “Besides having strong economic ties between us, strong security ties, we also have strong historic ties, and I think we should continue to celebrate those.”