Townsend
A community of free African Americans, known as Charley Town, was located here by the mid-19th century. Between 1845 and 1855 brothers Samuel and John Townsend purchased several large tracts of farmland in the vicinity. The Delaware Railroad arrived here in 1856, bisecting Samuel Townsend’s property. This led to a period of sustained growth for […]
Townsend
RG #5400 The 1800s Townsend, located in southern New Castle County in an area of fertile agricultural land and dense forests, was originally an isolated crossroads village called Charley Town, with a store and a few houses. In 1856, when the Delaware Railroad line established a station here, it was renamed Townsend, after the […]
Old Union Methodist Church
NCC-117: A log church was built here in 1789 on land donated by Joseph Dickinson. The church was named “Dickinson’s Chapel” in his honor. Francis Asbury and many other pioneers of American Methodism conducted services here. Levi Scott, a native of this area and member of the church, became the first Delawarean to serve as […]
