John Sudler Isaacs
SC-254. Born on August 22, 1889, near Greenwood, John Sudler Isaacs attended school until the sixth grade when he began working full time on the family farm. Although Isaacs started his career as a tenant farmer, he displayed a keen entrepreneurial spirit throughout his life, acquiring more than 8,100 acres of property which he […]
Blackwater Colored School
SC-253: originally installed on 12/3/2015. Built in 1892, the Blackwater Colored School is one of the last remaining post-Civil War era colored school buildings in Sussex County. Beginning in the 1920s, schools like Blackwater were replaced by new structures funded by Pierre S. du Pont, who sought to reform the education system in Delaware. […]
Transit of Venus Observatory
SC-252: In 1769, an international scientific effort was organized to observe a transit of Venus in order to determine the size of the solar system. This rare event, when Venus passes in the front of the Sun’s disk, makes such calculations possible when measured from widely separated sites. The American Philosophical Society sent Owen Biddle […]
Beebe Hospital
In 1916, two brothers, Drs. James Beebe, Sr. and Richard C. Beebe, had a shared vision to bring modern-day medicine to Sussex County. The Beebe brothers started the first private hospital outside the city of Wilmington on Savannah Road in Lewes. The hospital began as a small, four-room hospital with an operating room and two […]
Richard Allen School
SC-249: In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, Delaware did not have a comprehensive state-wide education system. By 1915, Delaware schools were ranked among the poorest in the country. Worse yet, African American students often attended dilapidated schools under deplorable conditions. Seeing an opportunity to help all students in Delaware, Pierre S. du Pont […]
Mt. Calvary AME Church
SC-248: originally installed on 3/13/2015. During the early 19th century, people of color in the Concord area – both free and slave – worshiped at a local Methodist church. After the Civil War, church members decided that African American parishioners should support themselves now that they were free. As a result church doors were closed […]
Woody’s Diner
First named Woody’s Diner after original owner Woody Sturgis, the factory-built “Silk City” diner car was brought to Selbyville from Paterson, New Jersey in 1950. A label mounted inside the diner car lists its serial number as “5092” – “50” denotes the year in which it was fabricated and “92” signifies that it was the […]
Town of Blades
SC-246: originally installed on 3/9/2015. Situated on the banks of the Nanticoke River, the town of Blades was first known as “Bladesville” and named for the Blades family. James Blades, an early railroad pioneer, purchased a tract of land which extended to present day High and Market Streets. A Methodist church and elementary school were […]
Temple Lodge No. 9 A.F. & A.M.
SC-245: originally installed on 1/15/2015. Organized Freemasonry in Delaware can be traced to the mid-18th century. On January 16, 1815, Temple Lodge No. 9 A.F. & A.M. was chartered by the Grand Lodge of Delaware, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons while it convened at the State House in Dover. A warrant was issued to the […]
Mansion Farm: the David Robbins Homestead
This two-story, late 19th-century Victorian house was constructed in phrases by the Robbins family between 1860-1909 and came to replace a modest structure built by David Robins Sr. in the early 1800s. The most notable change made was a two-story frame addition circa 1889 which nearly doubled the size of the home; it has been […]
