Crooked Billet
NCC-247: In 1684, William Penn deeded this property to Adam Stedham, who built a small two-room stone house on the land. Stedham’s son, William, expanded the house into the Crooked Billet Tavern in 1702. George Washington and his troops stopped at the tavern on September 9, 1777, before facing the British at the Battle of […]
Village of Port Penn
Port Penn’s name is attributed to a visit that William Penn made to the area in 1682. Dr. David Stewart founded Port Penn in the 1760s and laid out the town in a grid pattern. A protected deep water harbor and access to an active peach and grain trade made Port Penn a successful village, […]
Talbot’s Fort
NCC-A12: Colonel George Talbot, cousin of Lord Baltimore, in defiance of William Penn’s claim to Delaware, erected a fort nearby, 1684, on land of the Widow Ogle. Talbot dispossessed settlers between here and Iron Hill who refused to acknowledge Baltimore as proprietor. Fort garrisoned about two years boundary settled by agreement, 1760; Surveyed by Mason […]
Dover
KC-38: County seat since 1680. William Penn, in 1683, ordered town site laid out and named Dover. Plotted in 1717. Temporary capital in 1777 and permanent capital since 1779. Federal Constitution ratified here in 1787, making Delaware first State in Union. State Constitutional Conventions held here in 1791-1792, 1831, 1852, and 1897. Installed in 1940. […]
Dover
KC-34: County seat since 1680. William Penn, in 1683, ordered townsite laid out and named Dover. Plotted in 1717. Temporary capital in 1777 and permanent capital since 1779. Federal Constitution ratified here in 1787, making Delaware first State in Union. State Constitutional Conventions held here in 1791-1792, 1831, 1852, and 1897. Installed in 1940. Sponsors: […]
Welsh Tract
Approximate southern boundary of tract of thirty thousand acres granted by William Penn to the Welsh in 1701. It included what is now Pencader Hundred, Delaware, and a part of Cecil County, Maryland. NCC-47: Installed in 1932. Marker Photo Gallery: Resources Related to Middletown, DE: Location: 4361 Summit Bridge Road, Middletown, DE 19709
New Castle Common
NCC-13: This land is part of a tract of one thousand acres set apart by William Penn in 1701 for the inhabitants of the town of New Castle. Trustees were appointed and incorporated by Penn’s heirs in 1764, whose successors still hold and manage the land. Installed in 1932. Reinstalled in 1968. Sponsors: Historic Markers […]
Dover
KC-35: County seat since 1680. William Penn, in 1683, ordered town site laid out and named Dover. Plotted in 1717. Temporary capital in 1777 and permanent capital since 1779. Federal Constitution ratified here in 1787, making Delaware first State in Union. State Constitutional Conventions held here in 1791-1792, 1831, 1852, and 1897. Installed in 1966. […]
Lombardy Hall
In 1682, William Penn granted 986 acres of land at this location to Valentine Hollingsworth. A portion of the tract was subsequently conveyed to the Robinson family in 1726. The present stone dwelling was erected here circa 1750. In 1785, Gunning Bedford, Jr., signer of the United States Constitution, agreed to purchase the house and […]
Penn Farm
The 112-acre Penn Farm is the last surviving farm of the 1,068-acre New Castle Common. William Penn, Proprietor and Governor of Pennsylvania, made his warrant in writing under his hand and seal in October 1701, granting the New Castle Common “to lye in Common for the accommodation of the Inhabitants of the Town of New […]
