Annual Meeting of the Overfalls Foundation and Board Elections – Members Only

For Members of the Overfalls Foundation,

The Annual Meeting of the Members of the Overfalls Foundation will be held on Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 6:30 pm at the Lewes Public Library.

Given the large number of directors added to our Board of Directors last year and the year before, the Board has nominated only one additional director for election this year – Andrew Lyter. While many of you know Andrew, below is his biography for your consideration.

We hope you will be able to attend the Annual Meeting and look forward to seeing you.

Overfalls Foundation Board of Directors

Biography of Board Candidate Andrew J. Lyter 

I am a maritime historian, curator, and sailor specializing in the social history of Anglo-American sailors laboring at sea c. 1770-1820.
I completed my BA at West Chester University (2012) and my MA in maritime history from the University of Portsmouth, UK (2020). I am currently in a Ph.D. program at the University of Portsmouth where I am analyzing the social history of American sailors serving in the Royal Navy on the North American Station during the War of 1812.
While living in Pennsylvania I worked at the Independence Seaport Museum and Fort Mifflin, before making the move to southern Delaware. After a few years with the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs I began working at the Lewes Historical Society where I have served as the Director of Interpretation, Curator, and Executive Director. I recently stepped down as Executive Director and accepted a role as Curator of Maritime History to directly oversee the development and curation of the Historic Lewes Maritime Museum. This past spring, I joined the History Department at the University of Delaware as an Adjunct Professor teaching American History, Revolutions and Social Justice, and The World on a Ship. I currently serve on the
Maryland Center for History and Culture’s Maritime Committee, the Lewes 250th steering committee, and the Delaware 250th steering committee.
I am a regular contributor to Lewes History: The Journal of the Lewes Historical Society and The Journal of the American Revolution, writing on the social history of Anglo-American seafarers of the revolutionary Atlantic. In 2023 I contributed a chapter, “Discovered Going to the 74’ in a Small Boat: Black Pilots and Maritime Opportunity aboard HMS Poictiers, 1812-1813,” in
Sailors, Ships and Sea Fights. My first book, Going Among English Sailors: American Tars Aboard HMS Belvidera, 1809-1814, was published in November 2024, focusing on the lives of
the twenty-one Americans serving aboard the Belvidera during the War of 1812.
Growing up in land-locked southern York County, PA, I spent my summers on the cape in Harwich Port, MA, where I learned to sail and fell in love with the sea. For the past ten years I have called Lewes, DE my home, where I spend my time outside of work crewing on the Kalmar Nyckel, sailing my 28’ whaleboat on the bay, crewing in the local beer can races, and going on
adventures with my wife, two-year-old son, and Australian Cattle Dog.

The election of new members to the Board of Directors of the Overfalls Foundation will take place at the Foundation’s Annual Meeting on Thursday, October 17, 2024, beginning at 5:00 pm, at the Lewes Public Library in the large meeting room.  All members are requested and encouraged to attend this important meeting.  Following the election, members and guests will be provided an update on the status of the Foundation and the Lightship Overfalls.

Please click here to review the 2025 Board Candidates.