QUAKERTOWN
BY
VIRGINIA CULLEN
Quakertown, one of the
oldest settlements of colonial America is on the western edge of the
town of Lewes, Sussex County, On The Delaware. It was founded by
fifteen Quaker families of the Society of Friends, as early as 1725,
thought to be before Lewestowne was laid out as a village. There
are records of elections, court actions, etc., and there stood a
pillory and a whipping post.
Quakertown took in the area
what is known now as Westcoats Corners as well as the Quakertown of
today. The road through the settlement was named ' Shankland's Lane'
, named after Rhodes Shankland who had surveyed the settlements of
the area, as well as having 'laid out' the town of Lewes., and one
of the oldest families of colonial Lewes. There is one house, a
wood frame structure, built by Rhodes Shankland, still being
occupied. It is dated back to 1767 and the Marshall Coverdale
family, he a marine engineer, his wife and three daughters, live
there.
Within the last few years ,
as the area has began to grow again, families living in Quakertown
and surrounding area, have taken rein to revive it as a community.
Delving into old records they have learned of ancient “Quakertowne”
. These families have gathered at the home of James T. Lank, a
former magistrate of Lewes, and elected him mayor and call his home
'Town Hall”. Secretary & Treasurer has been handed to Mrs.
Helen Short Quillen, wife of Coast Guard Surfman, John Quillen.
Everything is entirely of
an unofficial procedure, but the community expects to get a lot of
pleasure and fun out of their own little individual town.
Kenneth Givens, resident,
whose wife is the Mayors daughter, Dorothy, and owner and operator
of the Sequoia Inn there in the village, has been named 'Historian'.
After 1791, after the
county seat was moved to Georgetown, sixteen miles west, Quqakertown
was called Prettymanville, for the family of Gideon Prettyman. ,
large land owner, whose home was built on the site of the whipping
post and court yard. Early on, colonial times, there is the name of
Shanklandville in this area, near by the Methodist Church ,
Ebenezaer., the grave yard still there, stones and all.
Who lives there now; Rev.
Howard Davis, retired minster, George Marsh, carpenter, William
'Zip' Rice, service station operator, Colin McNichol, plant nursery
and florist, Frank Tharp, mechanic, Baily Maull, farmer, Alton
Brittingham, Lewes official, John Quillen, Coast Guard Lighthouse
Keeper, Ken Givens, surveyor, Marshall Coverdale and Lank.
Abstract of Tuesday, January
14, 1941, Wilmington New Journal news article by Virginia F.
Cullen.
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