LEWES, Del. - Back in February of this year, the cannonball stuck outside The Cannonball House in Lewes suddenly went missing.
"I feel that it hurt me when it was taken out," said neighbor Kevin Sheeran.
The cannonball was fired at Lewes during the bombardment of April 1813, when ships of the British Royal Navy blockading Delaware Bay in the War of 1812, tried to force the town to provide supplies to the fleet.
But like Fort McHenry the following year, the Star-Spangled Banner was still flying over Lewes after the smoke cleared.
"It's a symbol of resiliency, of community kind of joining together and overcoming odds, be it a stolen cannonball or a British blockade," said Andrew Lyter, executive director of the Lewes Historical Society, which oversees the Lewes Maritime Museum, which occupies The Cannonball House.
It's believed some troublemakers up to drunken shenanigans stole the relic, with the Lewes Historical Society afraid it was gone for good. Lyter thought the ball might have been thrown in the nearby canal.
But the cannonball was returned anonymously to the Zwaanendael Museum just a few days later, much to the delight of visitors and neighbors.
"I think it's great because it is a part of the town, it's part of the allure of the town, the charm of the town, if you will," Sheeran said. "I'm glad it's back."
On May 18, a volunteer welder offered his services, and remounted the cannonball in its home at the corner of Front and Bank Streets - with much stronger welds.
"Welcome home and that's great news. I'm glad you were able to share that with us because we would have missed that!" said visitors Carolyn Rosin and Christime Shelton. "How many people walk by that cannonball and don't know the history that goes with it."
The Cannonball House is now undergoing an Historic American Buildings Survey, which will catalogue the entire structure before some needed renovations.
