LAUREL, THE BEGINNIG

LAUREL DELAWARE

THE BEGINNING

Laurel had an entirely different beginning than other Sussex towns since it as once the site of the principal village of the Nanticoke Indians, the center of Indian activities in the

southern end of the state.

Even though this part of Sussex county was part of a tract given to Willam Penn, he

never made any attempt to take possession so Maryland considered it part of their own

territory for many years.

The first record of any land being taken in this part of the state shows that 2500 acres

were given to William Green in 1680 , being, a strip of forest west of a road between Laurel and Seaford.

Settlers from Maryland and Virginia following Green and new arrival from Englan

and Bermuda sailed up the Nanticoke River and took lands on the banks. This coming of

white men left Indians no land to call their own so the General Assembly of Maryland

ordered a reservation be laid out in 1717. So the Indian village, now Laurel, directly

\across the creek of the Green tract, this land for the reservation was purchasef from Green

for 50,000 pounds of tobacco. The Indians were also given exclusive use of the village site,

consisting of 500 acres.

This left them with their old home site as a center with a considerable stretch of

forest for hunting, Between the two tracts was a stream with plenty of fish to fill their needs.

Source for abstract: Wilmington New Journal , October 17 1930