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The Convoluted History of the Roseville Farm -- Part I
There are certainly many properties in Mill Creek Hundred that have had multiple phases or lives through the course of their history, but there's one in particular that through much of the 19th...
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The Convoluted History of the Roseville Farm -- Part II
Eastward-looking view of the old stone farmhouse (right) and 20th Century barns (left)In the first post about the history of the Roseville Farm property, we followed the chain of ownership all the way...
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Weedon's Foray Historical Marker
The Weedon's Foray Historical MarkerThis past July (2023), an exciting historical event took place in Mill Creek Hundred. Nestled down in the Mill Creek valley, off of Stoney Batter Road down at the...
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The Abners Woodward House
The Abner Woodward House A little while back there was a post about the Stephen Mitchell House, located on North Star Road, in the community of the same name. Toward the end of that post, we learned...
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The Travelling Newport-Gap Pike and Mt. Cuba Bridge
The Newport-Gap Pike bridgein its original location, 1921I have to admit that this post is a follow-up that took way, way too long to come about. Like, kids are in middle school now who weren't even...
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The Springer-Chandler Farm
The Springer-Chandler farms, 1927For this story we venture again outside the confines of Mill Creek Hundred, but not by much. In fact, the land in question was originally part of a tract that extended...
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The Fanning Houses of Marshallton
The Walter Fanning House in 2012,one day before its demiseOne of the over-arching themes I've stumbled into after years of writing this blog is the idea that just about every place, no matter how...
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A (Much Better) History of the Brown-Murray Farm, aka The Farmhouse -- Part I
The Farmhouse todayMore than ten years ago I wrote a post about the property on which the event venue known as The Farmhouse, on Old Capitol Trail by Murray Manor and Delaware Park, sits. I did the...
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The Brown-Murray Farm, aka The Farmhouse, Part 2 -- The Murrays
The Murray Farm in 1937In the last post we traced the early history of the farm located due north of Delaware Park, along Old Capitol Trail, where the Murray Manor trailer park and the wedding venue...
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The Milford Crossroads School, District #37
The second Milford Crossroads School,as it looked in the 1920'sIt's been a while since we've taken a look at an old schoolhouse, and to the best of my knowledge I've covered just about every 19th...
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The Rubencame-Woodward Farm
The Rubencame-Woodward HouseVery often on this blog, the sites we look at are hidden away on some back road or lightly-populated corner of the hundred, or tucked neatly into the middle of a...
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The Intertwined Histories of the Milltown Road Farms -- Part 1, The McFarlin...
The Sanders-McFarlin House, akaThe Jesus House (since 1975)It seems to be a recent trend here that I start researching a property that appears to have a relatively straightforward history, but which...
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The Intertwined Histories of the Milltown Road Farms -- Part 2, The McKee...
McKee-Johnston-Stephenson Farm - 1952,with modern streets overlaidIn the last post, we traced the history of the southern portion of the old Ball farmstead, through the ownership of Benjamin and...
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The Mills of Shellpot Creek -- Part 1
Etching of the Webster Mill on Shellpot Creekby Robert Shaw, 1904For obvious reasons we spend most of our time on this site in Mill Creek Hundred, which we've seen over and over again was aptly named....
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The Mills of Shellpot Creek -- Part 2
Map of the upper mills of Shellpot CreekIn the last post we set the stage for the earliest mills built along Brandywine Hundred's Shellpot Creek, the three mills (probably two grist mills and one saw...
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The Hanna-Eastburn Farm
The c. 1908 Ferris Eastburn HouseIn doing historical research, one of the most frustrating (at times) and exhilarating (at others) things I've run across is the seemingly randomness of what gets...
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The Surprising Backstory of the Tatnall Gazebo
The Tatnall GazeboRecently I had the pleasure of visiting the beautiful grounds of the Tatnall School, located on Barley Mill Road. There are a number of potential blog post topics related to the...
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The George Montgomery House
The Montgomery HouseWhen I first started getting interested in local history one of the first questions I had, as I looked at the 1868 Beers map with all the houses marked on it, was "How many of these...
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The Reynolds-Janvier House at Delaware Park
The then du Pont House, under tenancy of the BanksFamily, c. 1860's (courtesy Steve Larrimore)One of the most unique properties in Mill Creek Hundred (and, btw, one of the most useful when trying to...
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The Burnt Mill Road House --Part 1
The Burnt Mill Road HouseSome old houses are on old roads that are still well-used today, making the homes easily visible. Some are "hidden" back in the middle of 20th Century developments, making them...
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The Burnt Mill Road House -- Part 2
The Burnt Mill Road House in 1982In the last post we took a look at nearly a century and a half's worth of history of a house and farm located on Burnt Mill Road, tucked along the PA/DE state line in...
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The Saga of William Bell
"William! William! William Bell! Are you here?" The erudite-looking 25 year old walked in and out of the wards, up and down the aisles, calling out for the man he had known all his life. There were...
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Marshallton School, District #77
Marshallton School #77, 99, 99½ in 1930Over the years, I think we've covered just about every old schoolhouse that does or did once stand in Mill Creek Hundred. However, there's one schoolhouse we've...
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The Robinson-Clark House
Modern view of the Robinson-Clark HouseOne of the many things I love about our local history is the variety in the historic homes standing in Mill Creek Hundred. In this case, specifically, how some...
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Delaware's First Draft -- August 1863
This post will be a little different than most, as it won't focus on a particular place, person, or family. Instead, it's actually a result of my problem with gift for tending to wander off track while...
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