Summary by Jackson Gingrich The date of 1681 is recorded as the first and oldest settlement in the area of Cedar Creek Hundred that was to become Slaughter Beach. Alexander Draper (1630-1691) was granted 1000 acres in 1681, and it became the oldest settled grant and was called “Little Bolton”. This parcel was situated along what is now Slaughter Beach Road starting around what is now Wells Road and moving eastward toward the Delaware Bay. The Slaughter Beach Tricentenary was surely a huge even event, judging by its scheduled activities, which extended from early morning through midnight on August 22, 1981, and again on the early morning of August 23rd. The August 22nd events: A first day cover was issued

The Slaughter Beach Corporation was the basis of moving toward forming and incorporating the town of Slaughter Beach. The Slaughter Beach Corporation was formed to provide some infrastructure to make the area more attractive to visitors and others as a resort area. The corporation of 1922 provided for the renovation and improvement of the hotel, including garaged and stables. A large dance hall was being rebuilt and remodeled, and an “orchestra is engaged for the summer”. It also provided that a six-foot-wide boardwalk that extended along the shore and included a pavilion. In February 1931, a meeting of the property owners and the members of the boardwalk community was held in the dance hall to consider incorporating. A draft charter

The Beginning: While there were several small skirmishes prior to April 19, 1775, this date is recognized as the accepted beginning of the war due to the first major military actions between the British Army and patriot militias at Lexington and Concord. The End: The conflict began to die down with the defeat of Cornwallis by a Franco-American army in Yorktown, Virginia, in September and October 1781. Great Britain acknowledged the sovereignty and independence of the United States with the Treaty of Paris, ratified on September 3, 1783, and brought the American Revolutionary War to an end. In between, battles and skirmishes took place in all of the thirteen original colonies. As the map to the left shows, the majority

There are several residents from Cedar Creek Hundred with ties to the Slaughter Beach area that served in the Revolutionary War. Brian Hunt’s website, forgottenpatriots.org, has researched and documented muster rolls, pensioner records, and other resources to document notable residents of Cedar Creek Hundred and how they contributed to the effort of the Revolutionary War. The Slaughter Beach Historical Society has documented a few of the contributors to the war effort from our area. John Vinyard (1760 -1818) was from a long-time Milford family. He was a fifer/drummer in the 1st Delaware Regiment, The Blue Hens. The Delaware archives reflect his military service fighting in the Long Island campaign and later at White Plains when Washington retreated north from New

The Black Camp Rebellion began July 15, 1780 during the Revolutionary War. The American colonies were bitterly divided, and the colony of Delaware was no different. There was a group of Sussex County farmers who didn’t particularly care about who ruled them, but they minded the disruption of selling their goods to market, primarily in Philadelphia. Many of the farmers were destitute and resented the high taxes placed upon them. Initially, they met up to vent their frustrations, but as their discussions continued a plan was hatched to secure Sussex County for the British. Bartholomew Baynum was a prominent leader in the insurrection, mobilizing other farmers from the Cedar Creek Hundred, located near Slaughter Beach. The Cedar Creek group joined

While Slaughter Beach history dates back to the 1600’s, it was not until 1931 that the area became incorporated as a town. In the late 1800s and early 1900s Slaughter Beach was a popular destination for local townsfolk to relax and enjoy the beach, fish, and natural surrounding beauty. Several prominent families bought tracts of land and built summer cottages for family enjoyment. Later, individual lots were sold. The family-like environment they created was often at odds with the activities engaged in by some of the locals. Recall that Prohibition was the law with the 18th Amendment, and it appears that Slaughter Beach may have been involved in liquor running. Contrary to some thinking that the Delaware did not engage

Prior to 1775, the property was originally part of Hart’s lands, an early land grant. Sometime after the Revolutionary War (1776-1783) a tavern and hotel were built at “Thorn Point”, near the original Cedar Creek Outlet and the Mispillion Harbor. It became a local landmark for vessels trading along the Delaware Bay coastline. It was noted on Beer’s 1868 Atlas as a landmark, circled in purple below. The hotel was also part of an Orphan’s Court map in 1883 to define the surrounding area. It is noted that the Thorn Point tract is 9 acres, and includes the following description: “Stone in the road. Beginning of deed for Thorn Point and said herein to be corner for Bald Eagle.” The area

The first settlement in the Lower Delaware Colonies was at Lewes in 1631 and is called the “First Town in the First State. Cedar Creek Hundred was located between Cedar Creek and Slaughter Creek and was formed in 1664 when English rule prevailed over earlier Dutch and Swedish settlements at New Castle and Wilmington. The counties of Delaware were originally divided into Hundreds based on the English use of dividing up counties. October 25, 1682, William Penn directed that Delaware be divided into hundreds for the purposes of taxation. A “hundred” is an old English Saxon land division which is smaller than a one hundred families. county or shire and larger than a tithing. It comprised ten tithings of ten

In probably the mid 1700s to early 1800s, this early road may have extended from Cedar Creek Village, located at the crossroads of what is now Route 30/Cedar Creek Road and Pine Haven Road.  This was a once thriving village on the King’s Highway and Cedar Creek, transporting goods from as early as the 1760s to mid- 1800s. Milling and transport of shipments of grain and lumber were important industries prior to 1769. Campbell’s Road would have traveled eastward toward Delaware Bay, going through another crossroad and small village at Argo’s Corner until it ended at the Bay, or the currently named Bay Avenue. Prior to 1858, in earliest references to the area, this road to the Bay was called

 The 1764 plot plan below of Wyncoops Farm (purchased in 1730) shows that farming close to the beach existed in the early 1700s, and is evidence that more than hunting and fishing was happening in the Slaughter Beach area prior to pre-Revolutionary War times. Benjamin Wyncoop was a large landowner in this area; his parents and grandparents originally having emigrated from the Nederlands (Netherlands today) in the 1600s to “New Nederland” which is now New York State. This orchard would have needed to be accessed from inland by a rustic version of the early (prior to 1758) “road to Campbell’s Beach”, now Slaughter Beach Rd, necessary by development of farms in that area.   Or considering its proximity to the Old