OUR HOME TOWN, like perhaps 7 other small coastal towns along the Delaware Bay, is closely attuned with nature, its natural seasonal cycles, dramatic impacts from the Bay and the salt marshes abutting them. Because it is bordered also by rivers, streams, salt marshes, and the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, it is actually a barrier island. Many of the species we see in and around town are permanent residents, but many are also transient. We are also impacted by small, intermittent forests just to our west, and also by being along the migratory paths of some of our best-known bird, insect, and aquatic bay creatures. Some are occasional species, and others have become year-round residents.

The rivers, marshes and Bay are, of course, salt water and subject to twice daily tidal influxes. As such, fresh water from our town wells is extremely valuable and its presence is increasingly unpredictable. The island is comprised of a mix of salt marshes, tidal ditches, tidal streams, dunes, beaches, and a few low-diversity, patchy forests. This barrier island ecosystem is rare, fragile, and easily impacted by weather events from the Delaware Bay. The mostly low diversity species of plants and animals that survive here are highly adapted to this delicate, yet complex, ecosystem, and weather events surrounding the island can have an outsized impact on what lives and thrives here. Although ~75-80 percent of the island belongs to the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, our town occupies perhaps the most fragile 20-25% of the acreage. Therefore, what town citizens of the beach do with our piece of the island may be the most variable and underappreciated influence on the natural world we observe and hear. It seems obvious to me that we must make great efforts to carefully conserve this tiny piece of paradise by not taxing the ecosystem with outsized human influences.

The trees, shrubs, grasses, flowering plants, and succulents about Town greatly influence the fauna we see and hear. There is no old-growth forest around or even near Slaughter Beach (it was all cut in the 1600-1700s), and large trees in Town are uncommon. The plants and animals that live in this environment have adapted over millennia, and forcing non-native plants upon our specialized island land and dunes is nearly always a mistake, serving mostly in degrading the ecosystem. The dune plants should especially be conserved, for they protect the dune against storms and super high tides that occur in spring and fall. The birds, insects, and animals that live around our island are adapted to the plants that have lived here for many thousands of years, and not those imported from Europe within the last 300-500 years ago. There are many animal species in decline because what are called “weeds” are often essential food plants that people destroy to the detriment of the ecosystem. One person’s weeds, if native, are likely not so much weeds as they are valuable components of our ecosystem.

There is a preponderance of evergreens on our island, especially pines, junipers, and cedars, but relatively few broadleaf tree species. Moreover, the prevalence of broadleaf trees seems to be decreasing as the saline water table elevates in concert with sea level rise. This increasing salinity is having profound effects on deep-rooted trees. If not salt-tolerant, susceptible plants will eventually die out and be replaced by more red cedars, junipers, and non-native pines. It is noteworthy that coniferous trees, although valuable for shade and shelter of wildlife, support relatively few species of insects, but do provide valuable space for nesting, breeding, and feeding of birds and other fauna. Being a Certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation was a hard-fought effort sustained for years, culminating in Town certification in 2015. A certified property implies that we live up to certain basic needs of wildlife, including maintaining food, water, and shelter for wildlife. Having this certification status is an accolade rarely achieved by beachfront communities. If you see such a sign in someone’s yard, newcomers could consult with them to better guide them in deciding what and how to conserve or replace plants themselves. Often, just conserving volunteer plants before eliminating them is the best strategy until you’ve spent a full year or more observing the weather and how native plants interact with it. A good example of a property that has simply conserved existing native plants, thereby promoting wildlife habitat. An example is observable at 277 Bay Ave.++ There are only a handful of naturalists and biologists residing in town that have learned from years of experience what works and what doesn’t. New residents would be well-served to follow their lead.

The tallest tree in Town in recent years was an ~60-ft buttonwood (sycamore) tree, which was dying and cut down in 2019. The tallest deciduous (broadleaf) tree remaining is a ~45-feet tall black cherry. There is also a tall tamarack in the 600 block of Bay Ave. Among the tallest remaining groups of trees are, loblolly, pitch pines, and Japanese black pines (non-native), with very few over 40 feet tall. There is one small, largely evergreen, woods along Passwaters Dr., which is getting ever smaller as trees are cut down (clear cut, the worst possible way) for salable lots. On the south end (300 block), there are a handful of persimmon trees on the marsh side of Bay Ave, but they’re usually not over 25-ft. tall. Native wild black cherry (Prunus serotina) and white poplar (not a native) trees are likely the tallest among the more common deciduous trees, rarely reaching more than 35-40 feet in height. Willows, although not common, occur in a few wetter areas of town. Bayberries, beach plums, sumacs (several varieties), and groundsels (Baccharis) are among the commonest shrubs along the roadways. Beach plums, a favorite fruit of many creatures (including birds, deer, raccoons, and people) are dying back, now being replaced by more salt-tolerant red cedar and juniper trees. Our Town history group, the Slaughter Beach Historical Society, has concluded that our town name derived from the old English “sloghtre” meaning “a boggy place” which was also well endowed with beach plums, according to accounts from sea captains in the 16th and 17th centuries (se SBHS website).

It is unfortunate that some people only see the prickly spikes of the beach plums, and do not wait to see the gorgeous fruit arriving in August and September before pruning or cutting completely. They are a keystone species, meaning that they are highly valuable to our coastal ecosystem. It would be best to trim them before they flower in April or after the plums have ripened and been picked or eaten in the Fall. The combination of a higher saltwater table, and misguided human actions have decimated the beach plums. Consequently, numerous plum pickers we used to see along our Bay Ave. roads in August are now absent. Delicious beach plum jelly/jam made from their purple fruit would be an extremely rare find today (except in a handful of farm stands). Moreover, hundreds of species of insects that depend on this keystone species are also disappearing.

Some other keystone species that are native (such as wild black cherry, sumac, staghorn sumac, black willow, bayberry, American beautyberry, Virginia creeper, Joe-Pye weed, viburnum, and a handful of native tall grasses and so-called weeds (to be described later), are the primary food sources that sustain keystone species of insects, which in turn are fed upon by ~90 percent of our songbirds (see Tallamy, 2026).

You may have noticed after living here a few decades, such as I have (over 37 years of living at the beaches of Broadkill and Slaughter Beach), our songbird species (as well as small mammals, insects, bats, toads, and frogs) have rapidly declined in the past decades, to the point that formerly common songbird species, such as catbirds, seaside sparrows, goldfinches, wrens, brown thrashers and many others, have become rather uncommon. Also, monarchs, swallowtail butterflies, velvet ants, sphinx moths, selected dragonfly species, and great silk moths are now rare when they used to be common. This is mostly because of loss of native host plants or other essential food. This precipitous decline will continue as keystone species of insects and plants die off or are removed. Eighty percent of what songbirds eat are caterpillars of moths and butterflies that feed on the keystone plant species (see Tallamy, 2024). Rearing a family of songbirds requires thousands of caterpillars over a 2 – 3-week period and even continues a couple of weeks after they are fledged. A single full-grown keystone host plant species may provide enough caterpillars to feed a whole family or more of songbirds.

We are also in the early stages of invasion by numerous species, such as autumn olive, an attractive but nasty Asian invasive tree that crowds out native trees and spreads far too quickly in our sandy soil. In fact, it has supplanted nearly one-third of trees north of the boardwalk on the marsh side of Bay Ave. leading to the Cedar Creek bridge. It supports few, if any, species of songbird-essential species of insects and crowds out native plants because it is extremely thirsty and grows rapidly, displacing native trees. Other pernicious plants include Traveler’s Joy (a Clematis vine that overgrows shrubs and trees and suffocates them), multiflora rose, Phragmites, and mile-a-minute weed. If encountered, they should be extirpated as quickly as possible (see Delaware Invasive Species reference).

Perhaps the most difficult plant groups for discussion are favorites of homeowners, parks, and businesses throughout the U.S., and while green and attractive, are nevertheless not native plants, but rather are non-native grasses, including Kentucky blue grass (a marketing name), and other hybrid turfgrasses that were imported from Europe and Asia. Even now, after being imported several hundreds of years ago, they still support only a handful of native insects and are a net negative to native ecosystems because frequent mowing creates thatch which in turn mostly decomposes into carbon dioxide. They also support very few animal species (i.e. pillbugs, millipedes, caterpillars, earthworms, spiders, etc.) that are vital food sources for songbirds. Moreover, they require excessive watering in dry seasons, do not store carbon unless completely un-mowed, require copious amounts of fertilizers and pesticides, use more available space than needed, and are a net negative for oxygen production because of the thatch that accrues after each mowing, then decomposes with a sizeable release of carbon dioxide.

However, if grown in limited areas, as a border plant for streets, driveways, gardens, patios, paths, and shrub strips, turfgrass can still serve the purpose of providing an attractive street-front neatness that most neighbors would consider attractive (this is a major factor for lawn-keeping, i.e. to impress your neighbors). The transition of a full lawn to just lawn borders or strips would not be easy, so if lawns are already established, a better approach would be to create more borders or decorative circles or squares within the lawn for native plants, such as small trees, shrubs and flowers. An example of this arrangement can be observed at 545 Bay Ave.++ One group of native grasses that are natives are the fescues, especially red fescues. However, they don’t give that bright look that most lawn seekers want, because they’re not shiny and tend to lay down and resist mowing.

If you make the tough choice to substitute native plant spaces for blue-grass type lawns, you must first remove or kill grassy areas in order to plant ecosystem-sustaining plants. If you’re inclined to plant a more fully ecosystem-promoting yard, you’d want it to be attractive as well. This is a harder question than you might suppose. If the native plants are from the south, southwest, northwest, coastal west, and northern U.S., they may not be adapted to this coastal area (zone 8) of the mid-Atlantic. Also, even some plants that are native are refractory to insects because they have defensive chemicals that deter most insects or are not nutritious enough to provide good forage for insects that would be eaten by songbirds. Even plants that are attractive to butterflies and moths for nectar or pollination purposes aren’t necessarily native or eco-friendly. For example, Buddleia spp. butterfly bush is not only non-native, but also has very few insects that feed on it. Even butterflies and moths do not lay eggs on this shrub at all. Still, if they’re good for pollinators, you certainly don’t need to rip out such a non-native. Rather, just limit the yard space you allow them, and keep them out of your future planting plans! An example of a yard that is nearly all planted with native species can be observed at 519 Bay Ave.++

Overall, the best plant group for caterpillars is oaks. However, only four native species do well in our sandy soil, viz. pin oaks, scrub oaks, scarlet oaks, and willow oaks. These four species can live in our sandy soil and generally do not grow overly tall. Scrub oaks, in fact, rarely grow over 20 feet tall in sandy soil. Pin, scarlet, and willow oaks are more attractive, but can grow far taller if soil is rich in loam. Of the native species, only native red maple and silver maple are suitable for our soil types, but cannot withstand truly dry, sandy soil. Wild black cherry is the only native cherry that grows well in virtually all soils, and is also very productive for many species of caterpillars. It does attract tent caterpillars, but these can be easily dealt with by hosing with water or merely knife-slitting the tents. The birds will finish them off!

However, there are plenty of small to medium size trees that are native, including redbud, white/pink flowering dogwoods (not hybrids), basswood, hawthorns, American holly, arbor vitae, red cedar, juniper, sassafras, and seaside alders. We should also add sycamore, white ash, big-tooth aspen, eastern cottonwood, hackberry, ironwood, basswood, and hophornbeam. Considering conifers, we could include pitch pine, and loblolly pine, though they are a bit taller and support relatively few species of insects. Although magnolias are native trees (but southern in origin), their leaves are resistant to most native insects, and useful mostly as shade and shelter for songbird purposes. Only the broadleaf trees, bushes, shrubs, native weeds, and tall native grasses provide significant food for caterpillars and most songbirds. However, just about any tall tree that provides shade and wind protection will allow under stories of shrubs to flourish and are therefore of some shelter value for birds.

Many shrubs and mounding bushes are desirable as decorative plants that also feed birds and caterpillars. We could include native oakleaf hydrangeas, native (Piedmont) azaleas, staghorn sumac, smooth sumac, winged sumac, fragrant sumac, bay myrtle, elderberry, winterberry, spicebush, service berry, sassafras, chokecherry, beautyberry, Viburnum, and summersweet pepperbush (Clethra ainifolia). Other common wild native plants include common cattails (several species), chicory, yucca, Queen Anne’s lace, and prickly pear cactus. Moreover, Virginia creeper and various milkweeds (including common milkweed, swamp milkweed, and butterfly weed) are, despite being called weeds, very valuable supporters of caterpillars (one person’s weed is another person’s treasure). Some others are wild iris, marsh mallow, daffodil, skunk cabbage, tiger lily, blue marsh violet, bugleweed, smartweed, goldenrod, American pokeweed, yellow asters, purple asters, wild grape, and Olney’s 3-square bulrush, which are all valuable supporters of native insect species. (for photos, see the Delaware Wetland Plant Guide, 2018, DNREC, Dover, DE), or see the iNaturlist app, or use AI programs (judicously). These photo tools can help you distinguish natives from non-natives.

There are a wide variety of grasses and sedges, including American beach grass, American barram grass, coastal sea oats, rye grass, cord grass (found only in marsh water), salt hay grass, curly beach grass (invasive but dune protective), panic grass, broom sedge, and tall switchgrass. Of course, people have planted many flowers and other decorative shrubs and plants too numerous to mention that thrive if mixed with garden soil and added to the natural sandy soil of our island. Generally, even if they are not hybrids, non-native plants support very few insect species for songbirds’ consumption.

Of course, many decorative and non-native plants have been planted or accidentally introduced (and are hence poor food sources for insects and birds) including maidenhair (Mimosa) trees, Japanese cherry, Ailanthus spp., cucumber tree, Autumn olive (highly invasive), Japanese maple, Rose of Sharon, hybrid dogwoods, figs, forsythia, Scotch broom plants, and crepe myrtle. Japanese knotweed, knapweed (highly invasive), climbing hempweed, multiflora rose (invasive), Japanese clover, Lespedeza (Chinese bush), invasive Japanese honeysuckle, and Traveler’s Joy (highly invasive plant, see reference 6).

Keep in mind that though vegetation sets the table for most insects, songbirds will eat seeds and berries as well as some marine creatures that might live along the beach or deposit their eggs there. These creatures and their eggs, however, are generally fed upon by scavenger birds (especially various sea birds, starlings and grackles), and only rarely, songbirds.

Although we might think our limited yard areas would have little value in terms of promoting better ecosystems for cities, towns, communities, and public spaces, consider that 40-50 million acres in the U.S. are privately owned lawns. This space actually encompasses acreage the size of New England. Individual efforts could not only make a difference for those who made substantial changes, but could also encourage others to emulate. I believe we could all think of examples of great accomplishments that started with a single step.

Courtesy Request ++ Please view listed properties streetside, unless owner is contacted.

References

• Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC). 2018. “Delaware Wetland Plant Field Guide.” DNREC, Dover, DE. 146pp.
• Frett, John. 2025. “Native Plants for Delaware Landscapes.” University of Delaware Fact Sheets and Publications. 5pp.
• Lentz, Austin N. 1914. “Common Forest Trees of New Jersey.” Rutgers University College of Agriculture Extension Service, New Brunswick, NJ. 79pp.
• Tallamy, Douglas W. 2026. “How Can I Help – Saving Nature with our Backyards.” Timber Press, NY. New York. (Kindle, hardback, or paperback editions).
• Williams, William H. 2008. “Man and Nature in Delaware.” Delaware Heritage Press. Dover, DE. 249pp.
• Delaware Invasive Species Council. https://delawareinvasives.net

While many visitors enjoy sitting on our beaches with a nice cocktail in hand, nearly a century ago our coastline was a haven for a different kind of “rum runner”. On June 23, 1930, Coast Guardsmen discovered a partly submerged ship in the Delaware Bay, just south of the Mispillion Harbor, that appeared a little fishy…

Upon further inspection, authorities found that the craft, the “Daisy T.,” was smuggling over 100 cases of liquor valued at over $10,000! Authorities believed that the ship was headed to a secret port on the Mispillion River to unload the alcohol when it was intercepted by a pirate vessel that rammed into its side. Whether the crew of the Daisy T. were murdered, as some believed, or able to escape as pirates looted the vessel is not certain, as authorities weren’t able to track down the culprits or the victims.

However, months later a local smuggler known as James MacNally was caught with more than 400 bags of alcohol at Flemings landing, just outside Smyrna. While MacNally was simply fined for this wrongdoing, investigators began to connect him to the mysterious Daisy T. Yet, before anything could be proven, MacNally was able to evade custody in a daring escape off the second floor of the federal court in Wilmington and was never to be caught again.

Though the Daisy T. did not make it to the Mispillion River on that fateful night, there is little doubt that many a ship transporting illegal alcohol during prohibition used the light shown by the Mispillion lighthouse to enter the river dubbed a rumrunner’s “haven”.

Thanks to guest authors from Dupont Nature Center: Manager Patrick Ruhl, who studied history at Flagler College and UC San Diego, and Joseph Linsenmeyer, currently a student at Johns Hopkins University and 2024 Summer Historical Intern . Information from Delaware Archives.

Let’s rewind back 151 years to a remarkable event that took place right here in the Mispillion Harbor on June 27, 1873 – the lighting of the Mispillion Lighthouse! Before that day, mariners were without a light to guide their path near the mouth of the Mispillion for the previous 13 years. After years of complaints, Congress finally approved $5,000 for a new light to be constructed, which would serve as the third lighthouse to be built at the Mispillion Harbor. 

The first, original lighthouse, was constructed in 1831, and then rebuilt in 1839 after inspections revealed it was in great disrepair. The second light was built some years later but torn down in 1859 after a report to congress deemed the light was no longer necessary due to low water depth at the entrance of the Mispillion River. 

However, this third lighthouse built in 1873 would be used for over 50 years, remaining in service until 1929 when it was replaced by a steel tower beacon. In 1932, the lighthouse was sold to a private owner for $400 and would stand at the mouth of the Mispillion for the next 90 years until it was struck by lightning and burned on May 2, 2002. The remaining structure was then sold to new owners who eventually restored parts of it and moved it to Shipcarpenter’s Square in Lewes, where it stands to this day. 

Thanks to guest authors from Dupont Nature Center: Manager Patrick Ruhl, who studied history at Flagler College and UC San Diego, and Joseph Linsenmeyer, currently a student at Johns Hopkins University and 2024 Summer Historical Intern . Information from Delaware Archives.

According to Fred Bonner, reporter for the Delaware State News on Mar. 11, 1979, there were “crowds of fisherman flocking here to fish during the spring run, who said how good the fishing was in the Delaware Bay. Sea Trout were abundant and astounded even the Old Timers by their size! So, the Milford Chamber of Commerce decided to sponsor the first World Championship Weakfish Tournament and bring national attention to Slaughter Beach!”

The first tournament was a single day event scheduled for May 19, 1979, organized and operated by go-getter Jack Nyland, the Executive Director of the Southern Delaware Chamber of Commerce. It was based out of the Cedar Creek boat ramps at Slaughter Beach. Tickets were sold to 100 boats for $100 and included a dinner at Slaughter Beach Fire Hall the same night to announce the winners.

The parking lot at Cedar Creek ramps was the staging area, and the Committee would meet there at 4am every morning for registration, boat inspection, emergency preparedness, and later for fish weigh-in as boats returned at 4pm. The tournament went on regardless of weather, unless a small craft advisory warning went out, and then the Committee would call the boats back. As the boats launched, they would travel up the Creek, and out the Mispillion Inlet until they were clear of the Jetty, amassing outside the channel and into the Delaware Bay, see photo below.

There they would await the arrival of the Tournament Boat to blow the horn around 7am, signaling the official beginning of the fishing day. At that point, everyone would head off to their favorite fishing spots, no limits on where they could go, as long as they stayed in the Bay, and could return to the dock for weigh in by 4pm.

(Photos from Delaware Archives, Dept of Economic Development, circa 1979-1988)

The first tournament was so successful that the following years, it was expanded to a 3-day event, usually held in May or June. People came from all over the country to try for local prizes as much as $5000. A fish setting a World Record could win up to $50,000 and a Jeep to drive home the money! Registration jumped to 150 boats, with 4 fishermen allowed in boats of all sizes, from Boston Whalers to 35 footers. There were numerous, big-name sponsors and celebrities who brought national attention to the event which also included a trout cooking contest and a boat show at Mispillion Marina. This became big fundraiser for food provided by local groups including the Milford Elks Club, Delaware State Police, and Slaughter Beach Fire Company. The awards banquet had to be moved to the Sheraton Hotel in Dover to accommodate over 450 people.

As numbers of weakfish declined, the tournament was stopped. However, as the fish population improved again, the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Milford, led by Executive Director Judy Diogo, and a group of local business/fishermen brought the Tournament back in the late 1980’s. The World Championship Weakfish Tournament Committee was comprised of Bob Lank, John Pierce, Jimmy (JP) Parker, John Lupinetti, Sonny Lomax, Lance Wilgus, Lee Spence, Bob (Doc) Cooper, Scott Rose, and Wayne Gordineer. In the 1990s, the average was 150-200 boats/day.

Along with promoting fishing in the area, one of the goals of the Tournament was to encourage conservation and preservation of the Weakfish. A University of Delaware biologist was often on hand to do testing on donated fish, and a donation also made to DNREC to help further their research.

1988 picture above shows an arrow pointing to the Mispillion Harbor, with the old Mispillion Lighthouse, the Steel Light Beacon, and the restaurant present at that time.

Excerpts from reporter Eric Burnley, local outdoors and fishing reporter for the Cape Gazette and WGMD.   

Mr. Burnley is a Delaware native who has fished and hunted the state from an early age. He covered every tournament from 1979 until 1989, usually riding on boats reserved for reporters or tournament sponsors.

Below is from his article in “The Fisherman Magazine” May 2021: Delaware Bay Weakfish: Is 2021 the Year for a Return? This is a reminiscence relating a personal experience during a 1980s World Weakfish Tournament. https://www.thefisherman.com/article/delaware-bay-weakfish-is-2021-the-year-for-a-return/#close-modal

“I was one of the local guides who shepherded guests around the bay to show off the excellent weakfish action. I ran down the Mispillion River from Milford in my 20-foot Bertram Moppie. I kept the boat in Milford, DE to avoid the zoo that was the launch ramp at Cedar Creek every morning during the World Weakfish Championship Tournament sponsored by the Milford Chamber of Commerce.
After we cleared the long, rock-lined Mispillion Inlet, and neared our destination, we saw a charter boat mate’s rod bend over and we knew he was into a big fish. Almost instantly everyone on his boat was fast into big trout and so were we! All four of our rods went off at the same time giving us plenty to do, but somehow, we managed to get all of the fish into the boat.
Once the weakfish began to bite, there was no stopping them – it was dropping the bucktail down, set the hook and begin the fight. I have no idea how many weakfish we caught that morning, but I know they were all in the 6- to 8-pound class. Once we had enough on ice for dinner, we played catch and release until we headed back to the dock.”

Then and Now: ‘I am sure some who are reading this remember those glory days when weakfish ruled Delaware Bay. I also remember when there were very few trout. Back in the 1950s my grandfather and I would rent wood boats from a lady in Slaughter Beach, put on our 7.5-HP Elgin motor and run out to the Coral Beds and catch croaker. I only remember catching trout on one trip. We both caught one each and, although they were big fish, they were the only trout I saw in Delaware Bay until I returned from the Navy in 1965.

I have been doing fishing reports for Delaware Bay in The Fisherman Magazine since 1974. Back when weakfish were plentiful you had to have at least a 10-pounder to get your name in the report. I think the minimum for a Delaware citation was 9 or 10 pounds.
But in 2020, I have yet to catch a weakfish over the required 13-inch minimum size, but I did see charter and head boats come back from Delaware Bay with their one-per-person over 13 inches weakfish limit. This is the first time in a long time I have seen that.

So where are these trout being caught? Pretty much where everything else in Delaware Bay is caught – on the artificial reefs. Delaware has one of the very best artificial reef programs along the East Coast with eight in Delaware Bay. Weakfish, like most other fish, will hang out over structure where the stuff they like to eat lives. This includes crabs, worms, small fish and shrimp. The artificial reefs attract all of that stuff and more, plus, they provide a place to hide from larger predators.

In this day and time, fishing for a big weakfish is a lot like hunting unicorns. The chance of catching one is slim, but the satisfaction of doing so is very rewarding.”

Many thanks to Eric Burnley, whose recent interview and many previous articles have helped us to walk in the shoes of local fisherman from 50 years ago …. Then and Now!

EARLY AMERICAN INDIANS, as many prefer to be called, originated from northeast Asia. It is probable that a number of tribes, including the Lenape or their ancestors, crossed the Bering Strait from northern Asia during the warming period of the last Ice Age, which we estimate as ~12,000-15,000 before present (BP). Prior to that, the land bridge, though extensive and wide, was deeply frozen and provided only short shrubs and small mammals for sustenance, so crossing would have been nearly impossible. A broad swath of Algonquian-speaking tribes was conjoined in the northwest U.S. in what is today Washington, Oregon, and Canada about 10,000 years BP.  Among this loose confederation were the Lenape-Nanticoke, Algonquin, Assateague, Wicomico, Accokeek, Iroquois, Piscataway, and others. These early Americans used oral recitals to convey tribal history to succeeding generations, so no precise dates of major events can be ascertained.

Some of the tribes spread to the mid- and lower Mississippi Valley by about 8,500 years BP.¹ This area became Moundbuilders’ Indian territory, who were noted for building earthen and grassy mounds that are still visible today. After a relatively short stay there, perhaps several hundred years, some tribes, including the Lenape-Nanticoke and Iroquois, began searching for more fertile lands to the east.²  These ventures occurred during the Archaic Indian Period which extended from 8500 – 5000 years BP. The Lenape-Nanticoke and Iroquois teamed up for the journey east but went their separate ways in Ohio or Pennsylvania. But not before confronting and defeating the Allegheni Indians of Western Pennsylvania.  After this, the two tribes split, with the Iroquois going north into upstate New York, while the Lenape-Nanticoke eventually settled around the whole Delaware Valley and into Delmarva. The Lenape have a tribal history in the Delaware Valley of at least ~8,000 years, and by the Woodland I Period (5,000 to 1,000 years BP) were the dominant tribe of Delaware. Later, it appears that the Nanticoke diverged and moved further southeast into Maryland and Virginia about 800 years BP (the Woodland II Period (1,000 – 400 years BP). However, the Lenape stayed north of the Indian River (DE), and along both sides of the Delaware River Valley as previously stated. 

Their dialect was Algonquian, similarly to many other tribes in the East. The Lenape were closely related genealogically to other Delmarva tribes and occupied the whole Delaware Valley upriver from Cape Henlopen to northern Pennsylvania, then extending around the New Jersey side of the Delaware River to Cape May. There were also scattered communities in southeastern New York, including Long Island.

Wikipedia states that the Nanticoke were an offshoot of the original people (the Lenape) who in turn derived from the confederation of Algonquian-speaking tribes previously mentioned. However, this claim is rejected by the Nanticoke, who were also known as the people of the Tidewater. They were the first tribe to contact Captain John Smith in the Jamestown settlement of 1607-1608. It appears as rapid colonial immigration of Tidewater areas occurred in the 17^th century, the Nanticoke were forced north and west into the Pocomoke and Nanticoke River drainage areas of Maryland and Delaware. 

A third tribe, the Adena, existed as an entity in Delaware for a relatively short period from 2,500 to 1,800 years BP. They were a small tribe of a few hundred persons living mainly in Kent County north of the Mispillion River and west towards Frederica and Dover. They arrived in Delaware as an offshoot of the Moundbuilders of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys.  Despite their small numbers, they were considered more advanced than the Lenape in important ways, including toolmaking, pottery making, arrowhead and adze manufacture, and cultural sophistication. They brought soapstone (steatite) with them, which was prized by the Lenape for fashioning paintable pottery. The Lenape also admired Adena pottery because of its more exquisite designs.  Going forward, the Lenape adopted Adena-style pottery into their own culture. The Adena also made unique short spears called atl-atl (Fig. 1) that were very useful in short range hunting of large animals. Moreover, they buried their dead in shell pits containing natural lime which deterred decomposition. Their dead were usually buried with ceremonial pipes, hunting points, and pottery. The 10,000 Graves site (also called Island Farm) at South Bowers Beach is thought to originally have been of Adena derivation, although it was claimed by both the Nanticokes and Lenape who protected it from vandalism in the 20th century. They lived a hunting, fishing, and agricultural lifestyle, and were believed to have shared their advances with the Lenape. Because they intermarried with the Lenape, they were eventually subsumed by the greater numbers of Lenape.

It seems likely that both Adena and Lenape tribes learned the art of oyster roasting, as numerous buried oyster pits were found in coastal areas inhabited by both tribes. A large pit would be dug in sand along the coast, lined with empty oyster shells and a commensurately sized wood fire would be built inside. After the pit was properly filled with very hot wood coals, rocks would be added and then superheated for hours. At that point, the rocks would be removed, replaced with live oysters, and once again covered with the hot rocks. The whole pit would then be covered with sand and

oysters would be cooked for hours beneath the hot rocks. The roasted oysters would by then have gray shells from the heat and be removed for a great feast.

Our local Lenape tribes were well settled in the east and already had an advanced culture by the Woodland I Period based on archeological findings from the excavations from many dig sites of Delaware. Among these sites was a proposed road cut for Highway SR1 to Rehoboth that bisected today’s Cedar Creek Rd. (DelDOT Reports, 1998, 2014).^3,4 However, the Nanticoke also laid claim to this site.  There was a legal battle over this historic Cedar Creek Rd. site, because two Indians had a rented homestead there from 1761-1814, who the Lenape claimed were from their tribe based on types of pottery artifacts present at the site and in deeper layers of excavations beneath the homestead. The Lenape therefore rejected the Nanticoke claim that was based on a report by Jay Custer,⁵ a DelDOT contractor and University of Delaware historian.  The Lenape claimed that the type of prehistoric items unearthed at this Cedar Creek construction site, underneath many layers of earth, dated back at least to the Archaic Period (8500-5000 years BP), suggesting that they had inhabited the site for thousands of years prior to the arrival of the Nanticoke. Indeed, there were other tribes further south on the Delmarva Peninsula including the Wicomico, the Assateague, and the Chincoteague. However, we will focus on the Lenape and the Nanticoke, which the Europeans jointly (and incorrectly) referred to as “Delaware Indians.”⁵  As a result of the inter-tribal dispute, the original study was never published by DelDOT, and the information was not published until a second study concluded by Hunter Research, Inc. in 2014.^3,4 

The “Delaware Indian” designation was a colonialist name given to the Lenape and the Nanticoke by early white settlers. There were no obvious physical differences, but the Nanticoke Tribe considered themselves genealogically distinct and inhabited southwestern Delmarva starting about 800 years BP (during the Woodland II Period) along the Nanticoke and Pocomoke Rivers that drained into the Chesapeake Bay.  As noted earlier, the Nanticoke were the Indians encountered by the settlers of Jamestown in 1608. As the whole tidewater area of southeastern Virginia and Maryland rapidly mushroomed with thousands of colonists over the next decades, the Nanticoke were forced further north into the Pocomoke and Nanticoke River basins in Maryland and Delaware during the 17^th century.⁶ 

From the north in New York, the warlike Iroquois and Algonquins forayed south into northern areas inhabited by the Lenape, sometimes doing the colonists’ bidding in expunging the Mid-Atlantic colonies of the peace-loving Lenape tribes.

Chief Dennis Coker, the current chief of the Lenape, said a Lenape spear point dating to 23,000 years BP was found in a preserved mastodon 40 miles out from Ocean City, MD, where the continental shelf was exposed during the Ice Ages.⁷ The written documentation of this assertion is still under investigation. Chief Coker provided this information to support his idea that the Great Spirit “plunked his tribe straight into this area at least 23,000 years ago.” Of course, it is also possible that the artifact was transported there by natural forces and was not as old as supposed. It should be noted that mastodons were extinct by about 10,000 years BP.

The peace-loving Lenape (also called the “the ancient ones,” were thought to have spawned many other tribes among the Northeastern Indian Nations.                                                                               

They themselves were divided into three geographic ranges – the Munsee People (“people of the stony country” – the area north and west of Philadelphia), the Unami (“people down river”) – the area in what became Philadelphia and suburbs. Moreover, there were two other minor Lenape tribes called the Big Siconese and Little Siconese, hailing from the Cape Henlopen and South Jersey areas (not discussed), respectively. Their dialects were all similar, but not identical (Figure 3). However, only a few tribal elders speak Unami (of Lenape origin), and there have been no known Nanticoke speakers for over 150 years. 

The Lenape were noted for mediating differences among the various native tribes and were much admired by early European colonists for their skills in settling disputes.⁷ However, the Big Siconese, who lived in an area the Dutch called Horenkill (and later Zwaanendael).  

These areas became known as the towns of Henlopen and/or Lewes. The first Dutch settlement was built as a whaling village by Capt. Peter DeVries, along with 28 of his shipmates in 1631. Capt. DeVries returned to England later in 1631 to gather more supplies, and when he returned in 1632 found the settlement had been destroyed by the Big Siconese. The story told was that a Dutch Coat of Arms, set as a metal marker, fascinated the Siconese Chief who carried it back to his village to fashion the metal into pipes, and in so doing, ruined it. The tribesmen, thinking they had greatly offended the Dutch, killed the chief in atonement. The Dutch settlers went to the tribe and told them they should have brought the chief to them for punishment. The Indians, feeling disrespected, returned to the settlement and killed all the settlers and destroyed all homes. However, the Big Siconese, seeing the much larger Dutch force, and fearing their powerful guns and cannons, began gradually vacating the area and establishing new villages further north^.8

The Delaware Lenape inhabited numerous Delaware locations seasonally, inhabiting the inland forests during the winter, and coastal areas during the summer. Many had longhouses (Figure 4) that held 4-5 families or more for winter use. A village might consist of 10-12 of such houses (William Pike, personal communication).⁸

These villages were essentially within the inland areas of Kent and Sussex County.

Wigwams made of wood were for single families and more for warm seasons along the coast (Figure 5).

The Lenape displayed average heights of 5’1” to 5’7” among men, and 2-3” less for women.¹ Both the Nanticoke and the Lenape had an oval facial structure with high cheekbones, tan skin, and broad shoulders.¹¹ Clothing for men comprised breechcloths during the summer and fur robes during the winter. Women wore deer hide wrap-around skirts and shirts during the summer (Figure 6) and fur robes with leggings during the winter (personal communication by Mr. Sterling Street)9.Both men and women used bear grease as hair dressing and decorated their bodies with designs painted in various colors. Men, women, and girls adorned themselves with jewelry made of shells, stones, beads, as well as animal claws and teeth.⁶ During festivals, however, clothing was much fancier and ornate, as seen in the parade photo below (Figure 7).

Not only did both men and women of the Lenape and Nanticoke hunt and fish, but also women tilled the soil and planted agricultural crops during the summer¹¹. Corn was the main crop, although squash, beans, pumpkins, tobacco and sunflowers were also cultivated.  In fact, tillage was so intense that soil would be depleted after about two decades of farming, and clans would frequently relocate based on soil fertility.⁸  The Nanticoke often practiced crop alternation in their gardens, so that carrots and onions were planted in alternate rows in the garden (Figure 8).  Therefore, pests of each row would be attacked by natural enemies in the alternate rows, an early method of pest management.⁸  The Lenape had a similar system called “the three sisters,” consisting of concentric rings of beans and squash surrounding a stalk of corn.⁹

Family lineages were traced maternally through the eldest woman, who also appointed and dismissed the sachems (chiefs), although former sachems were usually part of tribal councils which made the decisions.  Because of short life expectancy, girls married at 13-14 years, while men married 3-4 years older.  Not all marriages lasted a lifetime, and divorce was quite easily arranged. Women could simply place her husband’s belongings outside the family wigwam, or men could simply leave the home, and the divorce was settled. Men and women had traditionally different duties in keeping the home. Women trained their daughters, tended children, gardened, skinned/tanned hides, sewed clothes, cooked family meals, and collected fruits, berries and nuts. Men made tools and weapons, constructed wigwams or longhouses, built dugout boats, hunted game, netted and harpooned fish, and caught fish using dams.¹ Fathers and older men would train their sons in hunting and fishing, as well as all the skills attendant to those activities. Women not only hunted and fished but were also the bearers of the travois that carried belongings for trips. However, men were considered the protectors of the tribe or clan.⁸ 

Spiritually, as with virtually all native Indian tribes, the Lenape and Nanticoke believed in the “Great Spirit”. They also believed that animals and plants had spirits that were to be respected. For that reason, many Lenape personal names referenced the names of their perceived animal spirits. Names were selected by each boy or girl as they reached puberty. They also believed that through their dreams they were enabled to see their ancestors, and peer into the past and future.³ The Lenape and Nanticoke believed it was their duty to husband their lands and resources and prepare for the lives of the next 7^[2] generations, a long-lived view that spoke to the respect for life not only of themselves, but also their descendents.⁹

As the 17^th century unfolded, the winds of change swept across all the areas inhabited by the Lenape and the Nanticoke tribes. The first real encounters were with Dutch and Swedish explorers and traders. As mentioned earlier, the Dutch had already settled in today’s Lewes area of Sussex County, which became the first town in the first state in 1631. The Swedes, under the leadership of Peter Minuit, the New South Company bought a tract of land near present-day Wilmington. The Company also established a settlement on Tinicum Island (very near to today’s Philadelphia International Airport). Swedish and Finnish fur traders (who traded with the tribes) followed and trading posts were established along the west bank of the Delaware River. In 1640, the Dutch sold their shares in the Company to Swedish investors. However, the Dutch still had ambitions in the area and established their own trading posts. Then, in 1655, Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch Governor of New York City led an invasion and captured all the Swedish settlements along the Delaware River.¹⁰ 

However, the Dutch soon lost their land claims to Great Britain¹⁰ because they provided no military support to protect their settlements. While the Dutch had fluctuating relations with the Lenape tribes, King Charles II in 1664 (Figure 9), had already given provenance of the territory to his son, the Duke of York. He in turn installed a local governor for the territory to manage the three lower counties (Delaware), in the person of Gov. Edmund Andros. Governor Andros resided in New Castle, the capitol of the three lower counties. However, in 1681, because of debts owed to Penn’s father, the King (stamp photo below) granted William Penn a charter to Pennsylvania and (officially, years later) the three lower counties (Delaware). However, this basically just recognized the de facto situation, because the lands were already occupied by British settlers. The grant was for land claims for Penn’s peaceful, and much persecuted, Quaker followers. However, the apparent dispute around ownership of Delaware’s Indian lands was dodged by William Penn, who did not want the responsibility of managing Delaware’s three lower counties, which Penn thought were too “unruly and diverse.”

So, it transpired that Gov. Andros under the Duke of York continued his rule of the Delaware counties from New Castle, which remained the capitol in those times.  The Treaty of Shackamaxon (in areas of Philadelphia (today known as Fishtown, Kensington and Port Richmond) was made under an ancient elm tree between William Penn and Lenape Chief Tamanend in 1682¹¹. This area was much favored by the Lenape because it was one of the tribes’ favorite meeting places and overwintering spots near the river.  It is also a site of much legend and a famous painting by Benjamin West done ~90 years later (Figure 10). 

Although the treaty explicitly stated only that the Penn colony and the Lenape would live together in perpetual peace, the Lenape soon learned that the Penn colony had essentially gotten title to their lands.

Penn’s treaty only granted the Lenape access, but not actual land ownership. Since the Penn claims were at first limited to southeastern PA, relations with the Lenape of that region remained good because Penn respected and practiced goodwill and friendship towards the tribes. He made purchase agreements with the Lenape that brought lands deeded to him under his absolute control, but he recognized Lenape lands and reserved tracts where they would be settled without ever having to be sold. Relations with European settlers remained good until Penn’s Death in 1718. Penn’s sons in 1737 reinterpreted an accord their father had reached in 1686 with the Lenape. The sons’ “interpretation” was that the original agreement extended to all lands to the north and west that could be walked in 1.5 days by “walkers” from Philadelphia. With trained and skilled walkers, this effectively added to the Penn family lands some 750,000 acres¹². 

The Lenape had already been retreating from Delaware and southeastern PA, but then the British made an alliance with the Iroquois Six Nations to drive all of the Lenape tribes to Ohio, Northwest Territory. The battle of Fallen Timbers, Ohio, in 1794, which the Lenape lost, effectively left them powerless, and they were sent to Indiana and beyond to resettle. However, some of the Lenape remained hidden in plain sight near small towns such as Cheswold (near Smyrna), joined Christian churches, and effectively went unnoticed until recent years, when they quietly reeemerged¹⁰.  Besides losing their population to armed colonial forces, the Lenape were constantly fighting epidemics of smallpox, polio and other diseases of colonists, which virtually decimated (~90 % died of diseases) their resident population by 90 percent during the early 1700s.¹³ 

By the late 17^th century, the Nanticoke Tribe was located primarily along the Nanticoke River and environs, and therefore the tribe became focused on living near the Chesapeake Bay, somewhat south and west of the Lenape Tribe. Much of the Nanticoke tribal history is accessible through the Nanticoke Indian Museum in Millsboro, DE (Figure 11). During a Zoom talk given by Bonnie Hall, an elder woman of the Tribe, on 25 March, 2021¹⁴, we learn much about the early history of the Nanticoke. She spoke of the early history of the Mission and the first church congregation there in 1819 in St. George’s Chapel (but the Harmony United Methodist Church was not built there until 1891-2).

The Nanticoke joined the Christian Church, in part to blend in with the European settlers. The church in those days doubled as a schoolhouse for their children. Coexistence with the invading Europeans was breached frequently over land ownership. For many decades they watched as their lands became property in the European tradition, whereas the tribes believed it was common ground and that they were only giving license to use it to sustain life.¹⁵ Like other Indian tribes, Bonnie Hall told how the Nanticoke considered the Earth sacred, and how they communicated with the same “Great Spirit” of other tribes. As with the Lenape Tribe, they also firmly believed that their ancestors could speak to them through their dreams. However, after fighting against the invasive Europeans for many years, they ultimately decided that “going along and getting along” was the best policy for survival, even though they continued to hold onto many of their ancient tribal rituals, including the Annual Powwow Figure 12), which continues to this day. However, The Lenape decided to “hide in plain sight” in the farm community of Cheswold, east of Smyrna, as well as other towns such as Kenton. They also became Christians and intermarried, but still kept their tribal rituals, although only in private.⁹  

The Nanticoke never celebrated Columbus Day, but rather started to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day on Oct. 14, 2019.⁸  They were recognized as a Tribe by the State of Delaware in 1881 (Wikipedia).

If you go to the Nanticoke Indian Museum, you will see their tribal history that goes back over 800 years, much of it predating their arrival in southern Delaware.  The Museum has many artifacts, including ancient handmade tools, smoking pipes, arrowheads, and much more Figure 13). This evidence supports the conclusion that the Nanticoke were, like the Lenape, part of a strong and stable culture. Neither tribe were the savages that even prominent Americans, such as George Washington, portrayed them to be.¹ The Island Field Site in south Bowers Beach, DE, was discovered in the 1920s during DelDOT road construction, but was only fully explored in the 1960s and beyond. It was considered to be a large and ancient cemetery of the Nanticoke Tribe that dated to ~800 years BP.¹⁵ In the 1970s the site was opened as a museum to the public, but had to be closed off because of vandalism.  This cemetery held sacred value to the Tribe, and the Nanticoke persuaded the State to protect it from all but selected historical and archeological groups they approved.  1n 1986, therefore, the State covered the site within an oversize metallic pole building that has been closed to the public since 1987.¹⁵ In researching it further online, I found only one photo (Figure 14) of it being worked on by tribespeople and archaeologists in the 1960s and 1970s.  

In a related presentation by Ms. Theo Braunskill during a Zoom presentation to the Lenape tribe¹, it was learned that the average age of death of Native Americans in that era was 55, with the oldest remains belonging to a small number of people in their 70s. Surprisingly, the archeologists discovered that dental caries leading to heart disease was the leading cause of death. It was also learned that the site contained stones, copper, and arrowheads far from this local region, and it therefore concluded that there was a thriving continental trade network that went all the way to the west coast, north to Canada, and possibly even south into central America.¹ 

The Lenape were not officially recognized as a Delaware “Sovereign Indigenous Nation” by the State until 2016. Even their religious ceremonies were not recognized by the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs until 1978. In fact, there have been a number of legal battles between the Nanticoke and Lenape since the discovery of a prehistoric site at the intersection of SR1 and Cedar Creek Rd while DelDOT was preparing for building the overpass there.⁵ This was discussed earlier, the ensuing legal battles have generally delayed the Lenape from getting official recognition by the federal and state governments, according to Chief Dennis Coker.⁷  

In any case, what remains of both tribes today is a combined population of less than 700, although this officially counts only those who have at least 25 percent or more of Indian ancestry. There are also the Moors of the Kent and Sussex County, who are of mixed African-American and Native-American blood, but do not qualify as indigenous by the 25% standard of both Lenape and Nanticoke tribes.¹⁶ This subject is too complex to be fully explored herein. However, it should be noted that the Moors settled primarily near Cheswold (adjacent to the Lenapes) and in the Indian River Hundred, within close range of Millsboro. The Moors themselves were originally said to have mixed Spanish and African blood. However, distinctions from “true” Native Americans were often based on physical features or skin color, rather than on actual genetic lines. Needless to say, until after World War II, there were many disputing factions among these groups, all of whom sought State recognition, financial assistance, and power (Weslager, 1943).¹⁶

Despite the strife between white colonists and Indian tribes, in recent decades the tribes were recognized first by the U.S. Government, and then by the State of Delaware. This gave them the same status and rights of other tribes that had been given independent entity status within U.S. law. As a result, and after many years of legal battles, most recently in late 2021, the tribes were allowed to reacquire some of their own lands. The land costs were borne by a State Conservation Fund in conjunction with another private conservation group called the Mt. Cuba Center. The Mt. Cuba Center is a philanthropic conservation group that originated due to the efforts of the estate of Phillip DuPont Copeland and his wife, Pamela.¹⁷

The donated Nanticoke land is a 31-acre piece of mostly open land that abuts the area of the old Indian Mission School in Millsboro. The Lenape tribe received 11 acres of forest land near the Fork Branch Nature Preserve, not far from their current main settlement in Cheswold.1¹⁷ Because these purchases were just announced on Nov. 28, 2021, plans for their use are still being considered, but lands will only be used to the benefit of nature and all tribespeople. Former Chief Natosha Carmine (Figure 15) of the Nanticoke and Chief Dennis Coker of the Lenape are both committed to not developing their areas for housing or profit.¹⁷ It is presumed that the new Nanticoke Chief Avery Johnson will similarly continue this policy. This welcome turn of events is a welcome advance to further the goals of both tribes, as well as healing some of the scars of the last 4 centuries.

References

1.Braunskill, Theo. 2021. Zoom Talk for National Women’s month by author, an elder of the Lenni Lenape Tribe March 20, 2021

2. Carter, Dick. 1976. The History of Sussex County, Part I, The Indians Take Control. Millsboro, DE.

3. Farmer’s Delight: an 18th century plantation in southern Delaware, Phase III Archeological Data Recovery, the Cedar Creek Road Site, Cedar Creek Hundred, Sussex County, Delaware, Chapter 7.

4.Hunter’s Research Inc. 2014.DelDOT Agreement 1535, Chapter 5.    

5. Custer, Jay F. 1998. Uncited work at the Farmer’s Delight, an 18th century plantation in Southern Delaware, including archeological excavation data from the Cedar Creek Road site, Cedar Creek Hundred, Sussex County.

6. Kraft, Herbert C. 2005. The Lenape or Delaware Indians (New Jersey Lenape Lifeways, Inc. pp 29-35.

7. Personal communication. Jul 14, 2021. Interview with Lenape Chief Dennis Coker recorded via Zoom at Slaughter Beach, DE, fire hall.

8. Weslager, C. A. 1972. The Delaware Indians: a History. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ. 59pp. 

9.Personal communication. May 25, 2021 with Mr. Sterling Street, Nanticoke Indian Museum Coordinator. Millsboro, DE.        

10. https://nanticoke-lenape.info/history.html:~text=The peace-loving Lenni-Lenape, tribes, accessed May 1, 2021.

11. https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/treaty-of shackamaxon-2/accessed May 18, 2021.

12. Fisher, George. W. The Walking Purchase. Philadelphia Reflections, accessed May 11, 2021.

13. Licht, Walter, Mark F. Lloyd, J.M. Duffin, & Mary McConaghy. 2020. The original people and their land: the Lenape, pre-history to the 18^th century. 

14. Hall, Bonnie. 2021. Zoom Talk for National Women’s Month by the author, elder of the Nanticoke Tribe, March 25, 2021, Dover, DE.    

15. Custer, Jay. Fall, 1990. A Re-examination of the Island Field Site (7K-F-17), Kent County, Delaware. Archaeology of Eastern North America. (Vol 18) JSTOR 40914323.

16. Weslager, C.A. 1943. Delaware’s forgotten folk: The story of the Moors and the Nanticokes. University of Pennsylvania Press. Philadelphia, PA. 215pp.

17. The Washington Post, Nov. 28, 2021. Washington, DC.

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.

Congratulations!

The Delaware Bay Launch Service (DBLS), located at the end of Passwater Dr, is celebrating their 50^th Anniversary 1973-2023. The residents of Slaughter Beach have watched and heard the powerful boats of the DBLS come and go out to the Bay many times every day.  Their fifty-year history of hard work and dedication providing service in all hours and all weather deserves to be celebrated. The Slaughter Beach Historical Society and the town of Slaughter Beach offers Congratulations on this special occasion to all the wonderful workers who have contributed. We wish you many more years of safety and success.

Part 1:  Launch Legacies: A Father/Son tradition

Harry and Hick Rowland:

Capt. Harry H Rowland was born in 1914, later the President of Delaware Pilots Assoc.  In 1965, he founded Wilmington Tug and Launch, a business that provided superior harbor-assist tug boats for ship docking throughout the Ports of Wilmington and Philadelphia.

Capt. Harry realized in the early 1970s that ships anchoring in the lower Delaware Bay needed a Launch Service to provide transport for crews and supplies.  So, in 1973, his son Capt. H. Hickman Rowland, Jr (1940-2017) opened the doors of the Delaware Bay Launch Service (DBLS) along with his childhood friend Carlton Young, in the developing Passwater Marina section at the north end of Slaughter Beach. Hickman’s son and Capt. Harry’s grandson, Christopher, now owns and operates DBLS and Wilmington Tug solely.

Carlton and Frank Young:

As Capt. Hick remained working at Wilmington Tug, Carlton Young ran the daily operations of DBLS, covering the old muddy road that is now Passwater Dr. with dump truck loads of clamshells at $5/load.  The first office actually sat on 2 old barges that the State had sunk perpendicular in order to stabilize an area between Passwater Marina and the Delaware Bay. Their only phone at the time was located on a pole outside the building.  Carlton and Hick later in 1989 started the dry-stack Slaughter Beach Marina that is now Cedar Creek Marina. Shortly after opening Slaughter Beach Marina, Carlton decided to retire, and sold his portion of DBLS and the Marina to Hickman. Carlton’s son Frank Young took over the daily operations of the Marina, and Capt. Dave Brown who had been Carlton’s manager at DBLS took over all operations of the Launch for Hick.

The photo below shows the early Passwater Marina in the early 1970s where the DBLS was being established north of now Beach Plum Dr.  What is now Passwater Dr would have run in between the Bay and the channel dug for the marina shown in this picture. The DBLS office/base is now at the north “T” end of the channel shown. The inlet jetty is at top of photo. The newer dry-stack marina (now Cedar Creek Marina) would eventually be located in the area to the lower left corner of this photo. 

Captain Dave and Jack Brown:

Capt.  Dave Brown’s story starts at an early age at Adams Wharf, owned by Buzz and Judy Adams who had married and moved to Slaughter Beach in 1967. Dave Brown’s father, Jackson Brown, and Buzz were teachers and friends from Milford. While Jackson worked for Buzz running Charter and Head boats from the early 1970s to the late 1980s, young Dave worked as a deckhand until he acquired his Captain’s License in 1985 at age 17.  He then ran boats for Buzz out of Adams Wharf and Ocean City MD, and in 1987 added working for the Launch as a deckhand. In 1990, he was named a Captain at DBLS, and also became Operations Manager.

Capt. Dave has grown DBLS from 3 vessels in 1990 to now 7 vessels that operate anywhere along the East Coast, and from 7 employees to now 18 in 2023. Dave’s son Jack, named after his grandfather, has acquired his Captain’s license at a young age as well, and is the company’s Port Captain. The photo above is Dave teaching a young Jack.  Dave’s wife Carla also maintains the business as Dispatcher and Office Manager.

So, over the last 50 years, from 1973 -2023, the Delaware Bay Launch Service has been a business that has a legacy of 3 families passing the torch, making a living on the boats and the water that they love. The evolution of their livelihood at Slaughter Beach is quite amazing. The company has expanded in ways beyond our imagination, and we will provide some examples of what they do and the services they provide in Part 2 of this article, to follow. 

Part 2: Delaware Bay Launch Service: 50 years later!

In keeping with our Slaughter Beach Historical Society’s “Then and Now” concept, the previous Part 1 contains History on the formation of the Delaware Bay Launch Service (DBLS) and the families involved.  This sequel (Part 2) gives you an idea of how the 50-year-old DBLS is now serving our community.

Per a recent interview, Capt. Dave Brown has related the following information: “Big Stone Anchorage in the Delaware Bay is primarily used for Deep-Loaded foreign oil tankers that arrive with a draft too deep to proceed to refineries in Philadelphia or Delaware City.  With foreign imports declining, and some refineries closing, DBLS has seen the tanker numbers decrease from 30+/month in 1990 to maybe 8/month in 2023.  Thus, DBLS has had to expand from just servicing the Big Stone Anchorage to sending their vessels out anywhere along the East Coast for whatever their clients may need.  Recently they have been engaged in a lot of Dredge Assist work, running crews and supplies to Maine, Norfolk, Atlantic City and the Chesapeake Bay.  They also have been involved the last few years in Drone Testing for the US Navy.”

Below are some interesting examples of their versatility in serving the Delaware Bay area and beyond:

 2018 Retrieval of Space X rocket launch debris:   An interesting and unusual request to DBLS involved retrieving rocket pieces that landed in the Atlantic Ocean 150 miles East of Myrtle Beach. Space X routinely does their own retrieval with purpose-built vessels; however, on this day, those vessels broke down, so Space X reached out to DBLS for assistance.

May 24, 2022:  Barge Fire on Delaware Bay near Port Mahon

Slaughter Beach residents awoke to see a huge plume of black smoke over the bay to the north. There was a major fire on the Delaware Bay, involving a barge carrying salvaged electrical equipment that had been struck by lightning in the night.  The collaboration of many of our local emergency responders was amazing, and our DBLS put their 30 Ton crane to use along with their 2 largest vessels, the “Big Stone Express” & “Big Stone Leader”.

The picture below was taken at the dock of the Slaughter Beach base, showing transfer of supplies, including firefighting foam, along with DNREC and Fire personnel, and a fire cannon from Delaware City Refinery capable of pumping 5,550 gallons per minute of sea water out in the Bay location.

The 2^nd picture shows the DBLS vessel “Big Stone Leader” assisting in the effort which took several days to extinguish the fire.

Artificial Reef deployments for DNREC:

Since 1995, DNREC has permitted artificial reef sites in Delaware Bay and along the Atlantic Coast.  Clean and stable construction materials, boats, subway cars, etc. create new habitat for expanded recreational fishing and diving. 

The DBLS often assists in the deployment of these “recycled” materials; see the photos below.  Also check out the links below for more information on the DNREC program, along with an interesting account of the DBLS assisting with the sinking of the “Twin Capes”, a retired Cape May-Lewes Ferry in 2018. 

https://dnrec.alpha.delaware.gov/fish-wildlife/fishing/artificial-reefs/

August 2023: Assist Delaware Bay and River Cooperative in Oil Spill exercise, part of which took place in Cedar Creek near Dupont Nature Center.

https://www.capegazette.com/article/dbrc-and-delriver-participate-training-exercise/262129

Our DBLS is a first responder for both the Delaware Bay & River Cooperative (DBRC) and also for Marine Spill Response Cooperation (A nationwide spill recovery company). A recent exercise first involved staging DBRC supplies and equipment at the Slaughter Beach base (see photo below). Once the drill began, the DBLS vessel “Big Stone 5” assisted the response vessel DelRiver, by pulling oil boom off the back and which in an actual spill would be towed in a V shape to funnel oil for skimming. Our “Big Stone Leader” transported dignitaries for the drill & also acted as a platform for drone landing & take off. Drones are used in spills now to direct the clean-up vessels to the heaviest slicks of oil for cleanup.

Conclusion!

Slaughter Beach is proud and grateful to be home to the Delaware Bay Launch Service, whose founders and those who came after all knew that a business reputation was also a family reputation. With 50 years of resilience and versatility, their work has demonstrated professionalism and unsurpassed commitment to safely provide service. They are a part of our local history, and now they are actually making History. Check out their Facebook page to see them in action!

See links below for more info on the business:

https://www.delawarebaylaunch.com/

https://www.delawarebaylaunch.com/our-fleet

This report was based on research by Diane McFaul Hindman, with many thanks to Capt. Dave Brown for several interviews and editing assistance.

Located at the corner of Argos Corner Road and Church Road, the Slaughter Neck Methodist Church has a long history in the area. The seeds of the church formed in 1777 when a Methodist Society was formed at Cedar Creek Village in the home of William Shockley by a traveling Presbyterian minister. John Copper was the first Methodist to preach in the area and was followed by others who were spreading Methodism in Sussex County.  It was noted that Francis Asbury preached in Slaughter Neck July 13, 1776, and February 15, 1780, so there was not a regular minister assigned to the church until much later.  On July 26, 1810, a meeting was held, and trustees were elected to guide the development of a new permanent church structure under the name of “Zion Trustees”. On October 7,1810, the trustees purchased 77 square perches of land from William Hickman and erected a “frame structure twenty-five feet square with a galley on three sides”1. This church was used until 1855, when an acre of land near the old site was purchased from Lemuel Draper and a new frame church was built in 1856 under the name of Slaughter Neck Zion Meeting House. When Mr. Draper died in 1877 it was discovered that he had not given the church a deed for the property so his widow, Hester O. Draper, corrected the error by presenting the church with a deed on May 1, 1880. In 1888, that church was rebuilt at a cost of $1600 with more improvements made in 1918. Early trustees of the church included many familiar surnames from the early settlers such as Mark Draper, Henry Draper, Lot W. Davis, Joseph A. Calhoun, Riley Wilson, John W. Bennett, John Argo, and William J. Hickman. The final Slaughter Neck Church was built in 1929 with masonry blocks, and finally replacing the 1855 wood frame structure.

Photo circa 1950                                                                   Photo circa 1965

1 History of Delaware 1609-1888, J. Thomas Scharf, L.J. Richards & Co. 1888

The land for the present church was purchased from John P. Argo in a deed dated November 13, 1930. The corner stone was laid, and church was dedicated on November 24, 1929 by Reverend Joseph E. Holland, a native of Slaughter Neck.  The first sermon was given by Reverend Otis P. Jefferson, also a native.

Slaughter Neck Church Cemetery

The cemetery was established in the land surrounding the church and was enlarged several times with purchases and donations from surrounding farmland. It is believed that the original meeting house stood to the left of the rear of the present cemetery. An additional ½ acre was purchased from Amos G. Bennett in 1911, and about 1/5 acre was donated by David A. Argo in 1926. Also, in 1926, Thomas Farens and his wife conveyed an area of about .225 acres which made the total acreage of the church and cemetery about 2.5 acres. No further acquisitions were made until 1947 when about 1/3 acre was conveyed from Hammond and Jeanette Bennett, making the total about 2.73 acres. The headstones contain many of the surnames from the original settlers and the church founders, such as Argo(e), Bennett, Campbell, Carey, Davis Draper, Dodd, Farens, Hickman Holland, Ingram, Jefferson, Messick, Prettyman, Roach, Shepard, Walls, Warren, and Watson, just to name a few. Before the church was established the residents often had family graveyards on their properties and some still exist today. The oldest grave here is that of Mary W. Hickman who died September 9, 1828.

In May,1986, the quiet little church and cemetery attracted national attention when an anti-abortion group chose to transport an aborted fetus from California to Delaware to attract attention to their cause of preventing abortions.  Pastor Norman Stone led the group on a walking tour from Los Angeles, California, to Slaughter Beach and the Delaware Bay. He said he chose the location because he thought the name was significant.  Pastor Stone’s actions and anti-abortion rallies received very mixed responses.

According to the pastor, Reverend Hubert Jicha and Doris Argo, secretary of the church, Pastor Stone was not totally honest about his intentions and did not get proper permissions from them to make the burial. After the burial, Pastor Stone and his group walked the 5 miles to the Delaware Bay at Slaughter Beach to symbolize a baptism.

The Slaughter Neck Methodist Church Today

The Church was used in more recent times as a meeting location for church and local functions as well as various groups, such as Boy Scouts and 4-H. In 2002, a fellowship hall was added to the original 1929 building, enlarging the building significantly.

The graves of several well-known locals are in the Slaughter Neck Church Cemetery.  A number of Bennetts are interred there, including Elmer Crerar Bennett, Jr. He was on the Church board of trustees for several years, the owner of a dairy equipment distributor, and a member of the Milford School Board from 1955 through 1959. He was also one of the founders of the Delaware Agricultural Museum in Dover.

Vinal George Carey was a longtime member of the Delaware House of Representatives representing district 36 from 1984 to 2010. He was also a farmer in the Slaughter Neck area.

Governor Ruth Ann Minner was governor for 2 terms, from 2001-2009. She was a lifelong resident of Slaughter Neck and when she passed away November 4, 2021, her funeral was attended by Joe Biden. Her grave is in the same area as Baby Choice.

Davis Landing is a small, 1.33 acre plot on Cedar Creek. It was originally part of Alexander Draper’s “Little Bolton” farm, which was acquired from a patent in 1677 by Governor Andros, in the name of the Duke of York, and consisted of 996 acres. This landing site for boats was used by 4 generations of the Draper family and was used as a wharf site as early as 1677. It stayed in the family until the death of Alexander S. Draper, when an Orphans Court petition divided his residual estate between his widow, Sarah; daughter Lydia S. Draper; and her three siblings. James B. Draper, William C. Draper, and Abigail. Lydia married Joseph B. Shepard and moved into the old Draper homeplace along the west side of the lane, Davis Landing Road. Lydia and Joseph Shepard negotiated to purchase the remainder of the Draper lands from the surviving heirs. At the intestate death of Joseph B. Shepard in 1896 all of his lands were purchased by his son, Alexander D. Shepard and his mother, Lydia S. Shepard, but were soon sold to William R. Alred, John B. Prettyman, John C. Davidson, and George H. Draper, Sr.. In 1897, George H. Draper and his business partner, David Reis, purchased Davis Landing and the farm surrounding it. George

H. Draper purchased the interest of David Reis in 1903 and established a cannery at the site. The cannery was operated by Captain William Murphy from the 1912 until a storm destroyed 2/3 of the 30,000 cases, exact date unknown, but before 1925. The cannery was abandoned, and the land was purchased by Charles E. Reed on December 5, 1925. The parcel is owned by the heirs of Charles E. Reed and is used as family recreational purposes today.

Photo courtesy of Dave Kenton

Early deeds describe the tombstone of Lainor (or Elnora) Sykes, with the inscription of “Here Lies the Body of Lainor Sykes, who departed this Life Ye 14 day of November, 1711 Aged 14 years”. The stone was within the 1.33 acre parcel designated as “Draper-Davis Landing”. She was likely an indentured servant in the household of Alexander Draper, Jr. The grave was located in the field to the east of the road leading to Davis Landing and has been referenced as a marker in every deed to the property. The original stone may still exist but as of this date it has not been located.

1897 Orphans Court Map

This is the Orphans Court map of Davis Landing made for the estate of John Shepard , and is noted “Lydia Shepard , 130 acres, 1897” including Davis Landing. Map copy courtesy of David N. Rutt, custodian of the old Sussex County Orphans Court records.

Murphy’s Cannery

Captain William Murphy was a well-known steamboat captain of several steamers that operated on the Mispillion River and Cedar Creek. In August 1907, he operated the steamer Greensborough and later was made the first captain of the steamer City of Milford in 1908. Captain Murphy was involved with several other Milford steamboats beginning around 1900, including the Emma Reis, named for the wife of Davis Reis, one of the owners of Davis Landing. In 1912, Captain Murphy invested in his own cannery at Davis Landing. He packed tomatoes, pears, peaches, and lima beans until sometime in 1924, when a storm destroyed 2/3 of the canned goods. His label was “Catherine’s Choice” and below is a copy of the only known label to exist.

Captain Murphy employed a number of local women to peel tomatoes and they were paid between 5 and 7 cents per bucket. Notably, among the “skinners” was Charles E. Reed’s daughter, Blanche Reed (Bennett) and his niece, Elena Reed Dodd (Dunn).

Murphy’s Cannery had a number of “firsts” for the canning business and helped launch a number of other businesses:

• First successful canner of lima beans
• One of the first to introduce out-of-season fruits and vegetables to Delaware.
• John Burris, of Milford, was the first trucker for the cannery, and launched Burris Logistics, still in business today.
• One of first canneries to have dynamo-powered machinery & electric lights.
• One of the first canneries to truck goods over state lines. Captain Murphy died of carbon monoxide poisoning in 1935. His son,

Herbert, wrote a detailed history of the cannery in 1978 at the request of the owner at the time, E. Crerar Bennett. That history is on the next page.

The following article published in the Milford Chronicle in 1912 shows the only known photograph of the cannery at it’s inception and explains the advantages the new cannery will bring to the region.

Davis Landing Today

Sussex County PDF Map dated 2003

Dock replaced circa 1960.                                             Original “landing” ramp.

Remnants of the cannery: Foundation for dynamo-powered generator.                      Original warehouse floor.

Everyone always wants to know the origin of the name Slaughter Beach. No one seems to know for sure. There are legends, anecdotes, and speculation about a Delaware Postmaster, Indian massacres, whaling events, and of course about the very large numbers of Horseshoe crabs that come ashore each spring. However, none of these stories have ever been verified. So, the Historical Committee would like to bring some sense into this discussion.

The legend of an Indian massacre appears to have been initiated by John Lofland (1788-1849), who was known as the “Milford Bard”. He was a prolific writer of poetry, reportedly was addicted to Laudanum for most of his life. He is not known as a noted historian. This story has been widely circulated in Delaware but has never been verified to have happened in Sussex County.

Dallas Hitchens and David Kenton, well-known historians and writers of books about area history, have both examined first-hand accounts of the people, land transactions, wills and related documents about the early history of the Mispillion River, Cedar Creek, Slaughter Creek and Primehook Creek. The Lofland “Indian slaughter legend” supposedly happened in the 1600s and includes people and locations associated with New Castle County. If it was a well-known event in Sussex County, it would have been documented. It cannot be verified by any written account with references to people who lived in, or near Cedar Creek Hundred or Milford Hundred in Kent County from 1638-1900. Everyone loves an exciting story about the area, but this story has no basis in any of the histories or biographical accounts that were published by scholars over the past 150 years.

While doing research for this book, the former Postmaster theory seemed to have some merit as a possibility. There was mention of a William Slaughter, Postmaster in 2 references: Scharf’s History of Delaware and A Postal History of Delaware. Both referred to Slaughter, who established a store and post office known as Slaughter Station in 1866. It was located, however, on the Delaware Railroad line in Kent County, near Hartly, DE. The 50-mile trip by horse would have been very problematic, and also, timing is off for a connection to Slaughter Beach, which only started to build cottages around 1885!

Property records have been examined going back to the 1600s, and

there is no early evidence of a person or family named Slaughter having any connection to Sussex County. While the Slaughter name is on early maps, it is not included in any of the early local property records.

Another very apparent fact is that the Slaughter name was given to geographical areas on the earliest maps of now Sussex County going back into the 1600s. This gives rise to speculation that Slaughter Creek (which had an outlet onto Delaware Bay) and Slaughter Neck (the land area bordered by Slaughter Creek and Cedar Creek) were most likely named by early sailors and/or surveyors. These names are frequently mentioned in land and deed descriptions, as boundaries of properties and land grants during the 1600s and early 1700s. In historian C.H.B Turner’s 1909 book Some Records of Sussex County, Delaware, the name is mentioned in early land deeds, court cases and diaries, and is spelled at least 4 different ways: Slater, Slatter, Slawtor and Slaughter.

Since many of the early explorers and map makers were English, a search for English surnames seemed logical, and revealed the following:

Slaughter Name Meaning (from Ancestry.com):

1. Occupational name for a slaughterer of animals, from Middle English slahter (an agent derivative of slaht ‘killing’).
2. A topographic name from Middle English sloghtre ‘boggy place’.
3. Or a habitational name from a place named with this term (Old English slohtre), for example Upper and Lower Slaughter in Gloucestershire, topographic name for someone who lived by a blackthorn or sloe, Old English slahtreow.

Note how similar the old English words “Sloghtre” and “Slahtreow” sound compared to “Slaughter”.

Continuing the research, the scientific name for the above-mentioned blackthorn bush (Prunus spinosa), and our native beach plum bush (Prunus maritima), shows them to be the same genus, different species! The similarity of the blackthorn fruit called sloes is striking compared to the local beach plums. See pictures below.

Blackthorn sloes (Prunus spinosa)                      Beach Plum ((Prunus maritima)

The discovery of small plums along the Atlantic coast has been reported by early coastal explorers, including Giovanni da Verrazano, who in 1524 recorded “damson trees” in what today is southern New York State. Then and now, the plums can be found from Maine to Virginia.

The website for Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge states the early name of the area in the 17th century was “Priume Hoek” after the land’s abundance of purple beach plums. This translated from the Dutch words meaning “Plum Point”. Early maps of the area show the outlet of Slater (now Slaughter) Creek into Delaware Bay was in the area of now Prime Hook Refuge.

Given the fact that most other rivers and creeks opening onto the Delaware Bay are not named after people by the early explorers, but on naturally occurring elements of the area, our contention now is that the name Slaughter (sloghtre/slahtreaw) is a happy, positive reflection of the presence of large numbers of beach plums that delighted tired explorers in early times. Since no other theory can be based on any factual basis, we feel the name of Slaughter Beach has an early association with our local Beach Plums, and designates a lovely, safe place for rest and recreation for both human and natural residents.

Beach Plum bush in bloom 2021

References:   What’s in a Name

• Scharf, J. Thomas 1888: History of Delaware 1609-1888 Vol 1, L. J. Richards & Co. Philadelphia.
• Bounds, Harvey C. 1938: Postal History of Delaware, Press of Kells, Newark, DE.
• Beers, D. G. 1868: Atlas of the State of Delaware, Pomeroy & Beers, Philadelphia.
• Hanks, Patrick, Editor 2003: Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press.
• Turner, C.H.B. 1909: Some Records of Sussex County, Delaware,

Allen, Lane & Scott, Philadelphia.

• Duke of York Record 1646-1679 (Authorized Transcript from the Official Archives of the State of Delaware), Sunday Star Print, Wilmington, DE.
• Uva, Richard, PhD. “Taming the Wild Beachplum”, Cornell University,
• Kenton, David: Multiple newsletters and publications, local historian and past President Milford Historical Society.

Online credits:

• https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and- wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/blackthorn/
• http://geneologytrails.com/del/sussex/landgrants.html
• https://www.fws.gov/ Prime Hook Refuge tab on the Fish and Wildlife Service website.
• https://www.ancestry.com