Learn some History and take a Field Trip!

This is an interesting true history story that you can share with your families and visitors, and then take a 1-hour field trip.  Use this to encourage them to use their imaginations to think about life in this area over 200 years ago!

Travel at the end of the 18th Century was sometimes strenuous, difficult, and often dangerous.  Harold B. Hancock noted many examples in his book Delaware 200 years ago (1780-1800) in the chapter “Travel by Land and Sea”.  Roads in Delaware’s Three Lower Counties were not well developed yet. A post-rider carrying mail in 1775 from Philadelphia to Lewes usually took 3 days over rough roads. In 1781, passengers on a stagecoach leaving Philadelphia at 6am, could count on arriving in Wilmington in time for dinner. 

In the late 1700s and early 1800s, streams, creeks, and rivers were the highways in the Delaware Colony.  Small boats and sailing vessels were in use, but it would take more than 50 years for the arrival of steamboats and railroads, and 100 years for the first automobiles!

However, any travel by water in our rivers and the Delaware Bay could be problematic, considering shallows, silt, tides, squalls and rough weather. The following excerpt from Hancock’s book begins Aug 27, 1790. The diary of Aleta Clark, a resident of the Broadkiln area (near Milton), wished to visit Philadelphia by shallop, but the voyage took longer than she anticipated. (see picture of a shallop and the diary page below),

Aleta Clark’s diary Aug 27-Sept 11, 1790.

Note that she mentions all our local waterways in making her journey. It appears that on the return trip, the Clarks attempted to land at Slaughter Creek (the mouth of which opened onto Delaware Bay near now Primehook Beach), which would have brought them closer to Milton, their home.  But due to a storm, they turned back and landed at the mouth of the Mispillion River, where they couldn’t hire horses.

[HISTORY NOTE!  The first Mispillion Lighthouse was not built until 1831, and there were no jetties either.  So, in 1790, there was no Lighthouse or town at the mouth of the Mispillion River.  Some landings would have been available along the river, with docks built by farmers or businesses to allow boat transport of people or goods.]

After getting off the boat, the Clark family then walked to Cedar Creek Village, which at that time was a thriving small town, bigger and more developed than Milford, which was only a small settlement. It was quite a long walk for the family, approximately 8 miles!  From there, they could have hired horses or a wagon to take them to their home somewhere in the Milton area, then known as Broadkiln.

So, if you literally want to “put yourself in their shoes”, see the modern map below showing walking directions from the Mispillion Harbor at the end of now Lighthouse Rd. to the location of the old Cedar Creek Village. Remember! The trip was in 1790, over 230 years ago! Imagine this family taking a 2-week vacation, braving discomfort and the elements in a small boat to travel to Philadelphia. Then, when almost back home, they face another challenge due to bad weather!    Aleta Clark’s Walk was probably on the same cow paths and rustic farm lanes that became the precursors of now existing roads:

1. For your field trip, you may prefer to use your car instead of walking almost 8 miles! Be reminded that in 1790, things would have looked completely different …. you would be walking on paths or rutted dirt roads, through marsh, mostly forests, some farm fields since land grants at that time were only gradually being cleared for houses and farms in downstate Delaware. 
2. Start at the Mispillion Harbor at the end of Lighthouse Rd near current Dupont Nature Center and drive South,
3. Turn right on Cedar Beach Rd,
4. Turn left on Mills Rd,
5. Turn right on Cedar Neck Rd,
6. Cross Rt 1 (nonexistent in 1790)
7. Then turn left on Rt 30S/Cedar Creek Rd, which at the time was a somewhat developed Public Post Road.
8. Follow Rt 30S to a small bridge at the crossroads over now Swiggetts Pond, where Cedar Creek Village used to be!! The only sign of the old village is an old Mill on the left side of the bridge next to old Cedar Creek. Again, imagine a bustling little town, with a green where soldiers drilled during the Revolutionary War, homes and businesses, and even a hotel! 
9. To return to Slaughter Beach, turn left on Pine Haven Rd to Argo’s Corner.

[HISTORY NOTE! On the modern computer map above, the dotted line follows a very possible route using current roads that might have been somewhat walkable in 1790 because of dirt roads used to carry produce and farm goods by horse and wagons to the Mispillion River.

The alternate route, using now Bay Ave. as noted on the modern map, was not possible then, because there was no development of the town of Slaughter Beach yet or usable road here in 1790! Any travel in that direction would also have been blocked by the mouth of the original navigable Cedar Creek that exited into Delaware Bay at what is now Harrison Dr. This outlet later silted shut, and the dredging of a new canal began 50 years later in 1848, to divert Cedar Creek across the Marsh to the Mispillion Harbor. If you decide to take the ride to Dupont Nature Center to start your “Field Trip”, when you pass Harrison Dr. (one of our access roads), look out to the marsh, and you may see some water that is what remains of the old Cedar Creek.   And when you cross the drawbridge, you will be crossing the dredged Cedar Creek Canal.]

STAY TUNED to this website! There’s much history packed into this short article, but later articles will provide more comprehensive information on Cedar Creek, Mispillion River and Harbor, and Slaughter Creek and Canal, as well as actual development in the area of Slaughter Beach. 

Reference: Harold B. Hancock, Delaware 200 years ago (1780-1800), Midatlantic Press, 1987, issued by the Delaware Heritage Commission.

Researched and compiled by Diane McFaul Hindman, SBHS, 2021-24.