Tuesday, August 30, 2016

SURPRISE

MARRIAGE
FRED DODD , LEWES
AND
MINNIE GULDIN, SHENANDOAH

Lewes, Delaware February 15, 1895:
The Shenaandoah Herald of Pennsylvania of Tuesday last has told us the Fred Dodd, age 22 of Lewes, Delaware and Miss Minnie Guldin, age 19, of Shenandoah were married in Camden New Jersey .
The local society circles are once more stirred up, not by scandal, but by an unexpected wedding. The principals of the situation are Miss Minnie Guldin of Shenandoah and Fred Dodd of Lewes, Delaware. Miss Guldin is daughter of John A. Guldin and Mary A Mortimer, of Schuylkill county, Mr. Guldin being a one time livery stable owner and operator , now the proprietor of the Commercial Hotel here, and a veteran of the Civil War. Fred Dodd, s son of John H. Dodd and his wife Elizabeth of Milton. Mr Dodd is a prosperous dry goods merchant of Lewes, once in partnership with J. A. Tingle and Alfred Burton as J. H. Dodd & Company in 1866. Alfred Burton being known as the first mayor of todays Lewes.
The marriage was a secret to all until last night. Even the brides parents did not know until that time. Miss Guldin and Mr. Dodd first met last October in Lewes where the grooms home is located, than about two weeks ago Mr. Dodd came to Shenandoah and stayed as a guest at the hotel. Last Thursday he and Miss Guldin left by train for Pottsville, ostensibly to visit some of her relatives, but nothing unusual was suspected . Even when Miss Guldin failed to write that she was well and all at her destination there were no suspucions as a blizzard had set to. Last night the young lady returned to her fathers hotel, not as Miss Guldin but as Mrs Fred Dodd. After the shock of the surprise passed, the blessings and forgiveness etc., everybody seemed happy.

The bride and groom are now domiciled at the hotel and say they were married in Camden, New Jersey. The wedding announcement will be a surprise in other parts of the county, especially Pottsville where she and her parents had recently resided and she had been promenent in amateur theatrical circles. She is a good looking woman of 19 years, had attained success as 'The Drummer boy' in the benefit production of ”The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” a few years ago and last December appeared as “Topsey” at a benefit of the Protestant Episcopal Church at the Robbins Opera House in Shenandoah.

Sunday, August 28, 2016

1912 LEWES BOARD OF TRADE ORGANIZED


ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING
LEWES BOARD OF TRADE
MONDAY, MARCH 10, 1912

On March 10 The Lewes Board of Trade was organized at a public meeting held in the Lewes Town Hall. A number of citizens realizing the value of a Board of Trade on all economic and industrial questions, issued a call which resulted in a hearty response.
George P. Tunnell , one of Lewes' most progressive merchants. Was elected president; F. H. Brewer , vice president; Percy B Vickers, secretary; Charles T. Melson, assistant secretary; Fred C. Wolfe, treasurer. A by laws committee was appointed consisting of Brewer, Vickers and Register.
Ex-Congressman Burton gave an address which dwelt on his efforts while in congress to have the Breakwater extend to our shores and a history of his efforts in that behalf.
William A. Russell entertained with a delightful prophecy “Lewes One Hundred Years From Now” He drew vivid word pictures of the town with its breakwaters, canals, docks and wharves, railway and steamship lines among other various industries.
Mr. Tunnell, the president, is a 'hustler' and will without doubt have the new Board of Trade a 'live wire' in matters pertaining to this old city by the sea.

SOURCE : MORNING NEWS, WILMINGTON MARCH 11 1912

Friday, August 26, 2016

Delaware Breakwater Metes & Bounds

DELAWARE BREAKWATER

The Delaware Breakwater is situated at the entrance into the Delaware Bay near Cape Henlopen. The anchorage ground, or roadstead, is formed by a cove in the southern shore directly west of the pitch of the cape and the seaward end of an extensive shoal called the shears; the tail of which makes out from the shore about five miles up the bay , near the mouth of Broadkill Creek, from whence it extends eastward and terminates at a point about two miles to the northward of the shore at the Cape.
The Breakwater consist of an insulated dike or wall of stone, the transversal section of which is a trapezium, the base resting on the bottom, whilst the summit line forms the top of the works. The other sides represent the inner and outer slopes of the work, that to the seaward being much greater than the other. The inward slope is 45 degrees; the top is horizontal , 22 feet in breadth and raised 5-1/3 feet above the highest spring tide; the outward or sea slope is 89 feet n altitude upon a base of 1053 feet; these dimensions being measured in relation to a horizontal plane passing by a point 27 feet below the lowest spring tide. The base bears to the altitude nearly the same ratio as similar lines in the profile of the Cherbourg and Plymouth Breakwaters.
The opening or entrance from the ocean is 650 yards in width, between the north point of the cape and the east end of the Breakwater. At this entrance the harbor will be accessible during all winds coming from the sea.
The dike is formed in a straight line from E.S.E. To W.N.W. ; 1200 yards is the length of this portion of the work which is designed to serve the purposes of a breakwater. At a distance of 350 yards from the upper or western end of the breakwater ( which space forms the upper entrance), a similar dike of 500 yards in length , is projected in a direct line, W. by S. ½ S. forming an angle of 146 degree, 15 min, with the Breakwater. This work is designed more particularly as an icebreaker. The whole length of the two dikes above described ; which are now partly commenced will be 1700 yards; they will contain when finished 900,000 cubic yards of stone, composed of pieces of basaltic rock and granite weighing from a quarter of a ton to three tons and upward.
The depth of the water at low tide is from four to six fathoms throughout the harbor which will be formed by these works and the cove of the southern shore. It is calculated to afford a perfect shelter over a space of water surface of seven tenths of a square mile.
The object to be gained by the construction of an artificial harbor in this roadstead are to shelter vessels from the action of waves caused by the winds blowing from the E. to the N.W. round by the N. and also protect them against injuries arising from floating ice descending the bay from the N.W.

Source: Encyclopedia Americana : Tuesday , November 16, 1830 Issue Charleston Courier of Charleston, South Carolina.
From the pen of the Engineer engaged in the construction of the work.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

DORCHESTER 1900

DORCHESTER COUNTY MARYLAND
IN THE EARLY TO MID
1900'S
Dorchester , made a county in 1669, is the largest on the Eastern Shore but much of it is salt marsh with tidal streams of great beauty were fish, muskrat, deer and ducks thrive for the fishermen and hunters. Lying between two sizable estuaries, the Choptank to the north and Nanticoke to the south, with bays, creeks, straits, large and small islands, a person could spend a lifetime exploring its beauty. There is deep and shallow water for fishing for rock, taylor bluefish, or perch. Ducking is a big sport with large preserves for shooters.

As Dorchester is readily accessible by water it was settled early and many quaint seventeenth century structures are standing. Richard Preston, a Quaker, was the first Dorchester delegate to the General Assembly held in St. Mary's.

There is to the north, East New Market, with old houses so distinctive is style, Cambridge, on the Choptank at its widest point, two miles, the shores second largest city, with narrow overcrowded streets, large trees in the residential area, is a maritime town. At the Point , a residence built in 1706 still stand and is occupied. Also are LaGrange, the Wallace Mansion, with a boxwood garden and the oldest magnolia tree on the Eastern Shore, and the Jordan House with a beautiful interior. Up and down the river are Eldon, known as Shoal Creek House, Glasgow Hambrook, Castle Haven, Sopcot and lets not forget Horns point. On Hoopers Island, to the south, is Church Creek, an ancient place, with the Treaty Oak, the scene of a powwow between settlers and native Indians long ago It was a ship building town until the timber was used up. Next down the Hooper Island Road is Trinity Church, known also as Old Church, established in 1680. This church is in possession of a red velvet cushion on which Queen Ann knelt when
she was crowned, and a silver chalice presented by Queen Ann. The bricks of the church were said for years to have been brought from England but it is known the colonist made bricks as soon as they settled and near by is a hollow, probably where the clay for the bricks was dug. Near here are two old houses, one on Church Creek, known as Old house, now two centuries old. Lake Cove, same age or so by fifty years, where Lovey Lake lived during the Revolution and saved the house from the British, deponent sayeth how. Near by stands an old windmill which until a few years ago was still able to grind grain.

Hoopers Island is really three islands, Upper, Middle and Lower. Applegarth, a ghost town, for a washed out bridge never replace, and the town population moving inland during WWI for high paying jobs never returned. Three other villages, Honga, Fishing Creek and Hooperville, oyster packing towns, with people of ancient customs and friendly hearts.

Tails of the past: Hoopers Straits was once know as Limbo, so named by Captain John Smith in 1608 when driven there by a great storm after which he repaired his sails with his sailors shirts.
On Goose Creek there lived an old chief of the Wiwash Tribe who took the name of Billy Rumley, married a white woman and remained at Goose Creek when the others of the tribe moved north..............Story is that to 'punish' his wife and to 'make her sweet' he would tie her in his big chimney to the 'lubber pole' and 'smoke' her . There are still some individuals with a tinge of copper in their skin who are descendants of Billy Rumley and his white wife in this neighborhood.

SOURCE: Maryland Main and the Eastern Shore by Hulbert Footner

Saturday, August 13, 2016

LEWES DELAWARE
MARCH 3, 1937
STREETS RENAMED


MULBERRY STREET WILL BE NO LONGER BE KNOWN AS KNITTING STREET, PARK AVENUE WILL BECME SHIP CARPENTERS STREET . OLD KINGS HIGHWAY TAKES THE PLACE OF KING STREET. SAVANNAH ROAD , SO KNOWN ON ANCIENT GRANTS, WILL REPLACE STATE STREET. CANAL STREET IS NOW FRONT STREET AND WILL TURN INTO PILOTS TOWN ROAD ALONG THE WAY TO CANARY CREEK'

REINSTATEMENT OF THR STREET NAMES WAS APPORVED BY THE MAYOR AN COMMISSIOMERS UPON A PETITION OF THE LEWES ROTARY CLUB.