MISS LIL;S HOUSE

MISS LIL'S HOUSE TO BE TORN DOWN

On Lewes Beach, at house number 485 Lewes Beach, in bad disrepair, a drab

frame house, neighbors to Ira and Sallie Megee and the widow , 71 year old Hannah

Thompson, a house that once held huge banquets with expensive wines, and run by one

of the most colorful characters in Lewes , will soon disappear to make room for a motel.

For twenty years or more, the residence of Lillian Lawrence, better known as

“Miss Lil”. It was the rendezvous of ship officers and crewmen that “laid by” Lewes

as they came into the Delaware Breakwater on way to Delaware River Ports.

As soon as a ship came in from across the seas in the old days, the Captain and

officers would head for “Miss Lils” for a huge dinner of roast beef, turkey and wild duck,

served with the very best French champagnes.

Miss Lil always had a half dozen beautiful girls as hostesses to add to the enjoyment

of that first night ashore after a long voyage. The night after the crewmen who could afford

the cost would be entertained although less lavish.

Miss Lil was a handsome mature woman , in 1920 she was 52, born about 1868, more

than likely, in Baltimore. She dressed in the latest fashion, was driven in town in her buggy

with shiny wheels and a fringed top. Her horse wore a harness with shiny brass

accoutrements. She was know to be generous and when a family was known to be affected

by difficult times, she would send them groceries . Once, when her horse ran away, an

elderly man caught it and she rewarded hm with a $5 bill, which was then a weeks wages.

In 1920, at age 52, Miss Lil had left Lewes to establish a larger place of entertainment

in Miami. She was known to have had a fiery temper, and it was told by her doctor that

she kept her money between pages of the Bible, saying it was always safe there as no one

would ever touch that book.

Her hostesses came from Baltimore and used more makeup than local women and

became know as “painted women” which Miss Lil resented.

Exact dates of her Lewes residency in this house are unknown but she came after

1900 to remain to 1920, when ships no longer stopped at Lewes, other than to pick up a

pilot.

Abstract May 16 22018, Harrison H., from the W. Emerson Wilson column in the

the Wilmington New Journal February 20, 1967.