Ellendale’s Railroad Square
Ellendale’s Railroad Square was a major rail junction and a beehive of economic activity in Sussex County. The first section of the Junction and Breakwater Railroad from Harrington to Milford was completed in 1859. In March 1860, the Company’s Survey Team, consisting of T.F. Tilghman as chief engineer, 1 surveyor, 1 rodman, 2 chainmen, and […]
Milford’s Struggle for Educational Equality
SC-184: originally installed in 2004. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, declaring racially segregated public schools unconstitutional. In August 1954, a petition was submitted to the Milford Board of Education requesting integration. A plan for gradual desegregation was adopted, and on September 8, […]
Wading Place
SC-182: originally installed in 2004. Here was Laurel’s ancient “Wading Place”, a ford for Native Americans and colonial settlers. Broad Creek crosses this fall in its flow to the Nanticoke River and the Chesapeake Bay. For centuries, the Nanticoke Indians, an Algonquin people, lived in the Nanticoke Watershed, within which Broad Creek is an important […]
Oak Grove Crownstone
SC-178: originally installed in 2003. Charged with marking the long-disputed boundaries of the colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania (including the “Three Lower Counties” of Delaware), English astronomers Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon landed in America on November 15, 1763. The following June they traveled to a place on the Delmarva Peninsula which had been previously […]
St. Johns United Methodist Church
SC-177: originally installed in 2003. In the late 18th century, Francis Asbury and other pioneers of American Methodism traveled throughout this area bringing the message of their faith to the people. A local Methodist Society was organized at that time, first meeting in the homes of its members. In 1804 they purchased land on Chapel […]
Governor David Hazzard
SC-176: originally installed in 2003. Born on May 18, 1781, he was the son of local residents, John and Mary Houston Hazzard. Like his father, he engaged in extensive mercantile and agricultural pursuits. As a young man, he was a local magistrate and an officer in the State Militia during the War of 1812. […]
Woodland Ferry
By the 1740s a ferry service was being regularly operated at this location by James Cannon. He was succeeded by his son Jacob, who constructed a much-needed causeway on this side of the river for the improvement of the business. Threatened by competitors, Jacob’s widow Betty Cannon successfully petitioned the Delaware General Assembly in 1793 […]
St. Lukes Episcopal Church
SC-163: originally installed in 2002. The origin of this parish can be traced to 1704 when a log chapel known as St. Mary’s was constructed on Chapel Branch in Northwest Fork Hundred. The devastating impact of the Revolution on the Church of England in America contributed to the discontinuation of services there by the early […]
Governor Samuel Paynter
SC-162: A native and lifelong resident of this area, Samuel Paynter was born at Drawbridge on the Broadkill River on August 24, 1768. He was a successful merchant, farmer, and mill-owner, whose prosperity was closely linked to the commerce of the river. Widely respected and known for his outstanding character, he was a member of […]
St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church
SC-156: originally installed in 2002. With the expansion of settlement away from coastal areas in the early 18th century, there was a growing need for houses of worship to be located nearer to the homes of the settlers. In the spring of 1728, a frame chapel was constructed approximately two and one-half miles west of […]
