National Register Listing

Little Creek Hundred Rural Historic District

a.k.a. See also;Macomb Farm Complex;Octagonal Schoolhouse;Hughes-Wi

DE 9, Little Creek, DE

The Little Creek Rural Historic District is a historically and architecturally significant area in that it preserves, almost intact, an example of the historic rural central Delaware landscape during the last half of the eighteenth century and first half of the nineteenth century. As such, it is eligible for listing under criterion A for its association with the historic occupation and development of the area and for its function as a model for the study of that process. The district is also eligible under criterion B for its association with a closely related set of families that were the first developers of this district and its principal owners during most of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They also were a group of people who were active in political, religious, educational, and merchantile activities in central Delaware. The district is also eligible under criterion C as a result of the significant collection of buildings, both domestic and agricultural, that exist without major alteration since their last use as home farms for the families that built them.

The first European settlement in Little Creek Hundred began in the 1670s while Delaware was part of the lands of the Duke of York. Appropriately, the first land grant was titled "York" and was granted in 1676. York was originally given to William Stevens of Maryland. He was not able to hold it for long and by the early eighteenth century, the land that made up York was primarily owned by the Emerson family. Just north of York is the tract that is known as Willingbrook. It also was granted in 1676, again by settlers from
Maryland. The lower portion of this land soon came into the possession of the Cowgill family. South of York was the tract known as London. Like the other two tracts, it was first patented by Maryland settlers under the Duke of York. The last tract that makes up this historic district is called Exchange and it was not patented until the early eighteenth century.

The European occupants cleared the land and erected the first dwellings. They were most likely impermanent structures and no above-ground trace remains. It was not until the mid-eighteenth century that permanent dwellings were constructed. These dwellings were all substantial brick buildings and are physical evidence of the quick rise to prosperity that the fertile soils pro- vided. They were all built within about ten years of each other. They include the 1770 Hanson Farm, the 1760 Bellach Farm, the 1770 Macomb Farm, and the 1770 Emerson Farm. This was followed by a record round of development that occurred between 1780 and 1810. This was brought about by the need to provide farms for both male and female offspring and the realization that the original 800 to 1,000 acres of land grants were no longer manageable and were in some respects unprofitable. Therefore, some of the lands was sold. It was during this period that the remainder of the dwelling houses, except for the Parris House and the McColley House were built. The Quaker Meeting House was also built during this time. The Mifflin House (1797) does not exactly fall into this category. It was built by Jabez Jenkins as a new mansion house and not as the result of land division. Jenkins had held this land, a portion of York, since 1711.

Starting in the second decade of the nineteenth century, soil fertility levels dropped due to intensive farming and poor agricultural practices. The resultant drop in both farm value and profit as well as the death of some of the male heirs to the original families provided the opportunity for a number of large land-holding merchants to purchase the farms and enlarge their own holdings.

Dr. Ezekiel Needham of Smyrna and Henry Stout of Dover were the first two of several individuals who were purchasing large tracts of farmland and leasing them as tenant farms. Thomas Mifflin and Thomas Wilson, both related by marriage to the older families would also purchase land within the district. Perhaps the most stable piece of land was the central portion of York. It has remained in the control of descendants of the Emerson family since its original settlement. The western portion, known as York Seat became the property of the Hayes family as the result of the death of Jonathan Emerson and the remarriage of his widow to Manlove Hayes, Sr.

Starting in the mid-nineteenth century, an agricultural reform movement developed in Kent County. This was not an isolated occurrence but rather part of a similar pattern that occurred along the east coast of the United States. The reform movement encouraged the increased use of crop rotation methods, the use of fertilizer, the use of improved machinery, and the use of improved marketing of crops. Two of the leaders of this movement in Kent County were Manlove Hayes and Gouverneur Emerson who were half-brothers and owners of most of the York tract.

The interest in agricultural reform had the effect of reinforcing the use of traditional crops and the further division of the land into smaller units that could be handled by a single family. The use of intensive single-family tenant farms caused a building boom within the district in that accommodations were built for each of these new farm families. The 1868 Beers Atlas of Delaware shows 30 dwellings within the district. These 30 dwellings were owned by 10 individuals.

The pattern of tenancy would last until about 1950. During the 1950s, farmers from New Jersey and Long Island came to central Delaware and purchased these and other farms. As they adopted modern farming and converted the fields to use for potato farming, they removed all of the mid-nineteenth century tenant houses and left standing all except one of the main farm complexes. Long Point farm on the south side of Dover-Little Creek Road near the Little River was taken down in the early 1960s in order to provide clear space for an irrigation system.

During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, those who occupied the land within the historic district were active in a wide range of activities.

Judge James Bellach and Judge Thomas Irons were both lawyers and members of the Kent County judiciary during the late part of the eighteenth century. During the nineteenth century, large tracts within the district were owned by three different physicians. Gouverneur Emerson, Ezekiel Needham and Henry Ridgley. For these three men, the properties were investments and portions of larger holdings of land in the country. Even Dr. Emerson, who held his farms as birth rights, only maintained a temporary residence here. He was primarily a resident of Philadelphia. However, he took a close interest in his lands here and controlled their use.

In 1850, he published his edition and revision of Englishman C.W. Johnson's Farmers Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Rural Affairs. In his introduction, he tells the reader that he has adapted the book to an American audience and then goes on to give his views on the poor state of American agriculture and the benefits that are to be gained from scientific agriculture. After this book was published he made a series of speeches to the Kent County Agricultural Society and to other groups such as the Delaware Horticultural Society. In 1862, he wrote a paper on cotton growing in the middle states. In 1857, he edited the Practical Fruit, Flower and Vegetable Garderner's companion with a calendar. This had originally been published in England and was authored by Patrick Neill. He also translated into English F. LePlay's the Organization of labor in Accordance with Custom and the Law of Decalogue. This was in 1870. Emerson is listed on the cover as a member of the American Philosophical Society.

His half-brother, Manlove Hayes, credits Dr. Emerson with introducing the use of fertilizers, especially guano, into Delaware and with the subsequent rise in productivity and in farm prices. In his early years, he studied as a physician, and in 1819 he traveled as a surgeon on board a merchantman to the Mediterranean and to China. When he returned he settled in Philadelphia and took up his medical practice. In 1832, he was awarded a silver pitcher in appreciation from the city of Philadelphia for his work in halting an epidemic of Asiatic Cholera.

Manlove Hayes grew up in York Seat and made it his home until 1863. He seems to have been struct with the same wonder-lust as his half-brother. Before his death in 1910, he published his "Reminiscences." He studied at the Newark Academy and in 1833 while a student he helped lay the first brick at the 1st college building at what was to be the University of Delaware, Old College. In 1834 he became a student at the college. In 1836 he left the college to become a member of an engineering team laying out a railroad from Knoxville, Tennessee to the Georgia State line. He remained at this task until 1840 when he returned home. He had been home for the first time in 1839. At that time he recorded that:

"The times were hard upon farmers, the price of grain was low and crops were short, as the fertility of the fields could not be kept up with the limited quantity of manure made in the cattle pounds, and no other means were adopted for fertilization.

Guano had not been introduced and phosphates and other fertilizers were unknown. Lime was used, but the majority of landowners were not able to buy it and many had no faith in its fertilizing qualities. In 1839 the depression in business was general and this condition was spreading throughout the country; many banks had suspended or threatened suspension of specie payment; the outlook was anything but favorable."

For the first few years after his return in 1840, he was not engaged in any particular business. He assisted with the family farms and participated in some of Dr. Emerson's agricultural experiments such as the use of fertilizers. In 1847, he organized the Dona Steamboat and Transportation Company which was to reopen the old landing at Dona east of Cowgill Corner. He built a wharf and a hotel. Kent County built a road to the site. A steamboat made three trips a week to Philadelphia. The landing was a great success as it provided convenient access to Dover and was much in demand by local farmers.

At the same time, he became active in the organization of both the Kent County and State agricultural societies. In 1849, his father died and he inherited the main farm (His brother Charles was given the farm at Little Creek landing has the Stone Tavern as its main house).

Hayes' next major project was to assist in the organization of the Delaware Railroad. In 1852 he was a member of the State legislature and participated in the plans for the formation of the line. In 1865, he was elected a director of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad Company. In 1869, he became Secretary and Treasurer of the company. He held these posts until he died in 1910. When that line was bought out by the Pennsylvania Railroad, he became active in its affairs but not as director.

Another active interest of his was the establishment and maintenance of libraries. He is recorded as being active in Dover's Library. He was also a trustee of Delaware college.

The architecture found within the district was constructed during a one hundred years span from 1760 to 1860. This was the period of greatest significance to the district in that this marks the time when the farmers in the area were far enough removed from initial settlement to begin to build substantial homes and goes to the end of the initial building period and the end of owner-occupation of the major farms.

The buildings that the occupants in the district erected are all very traditional in design. Within that tradition, there is a wide variety of choices in terms of form. Consequently, the hall parlor, side hall passage, and center hall passage plans exist side by side. In fact, the hall parlor plan was employed to erect the McColley House around 1840. This plan is usually associated with the eighteenth century. This evidence of the conservative nature of architectural choice is reinforced in the Wilson House as well.

Constructed in c1820, it still retains many earlier features such as the use of a belt course and flemish bond brickwork on the facade. Only its Greek-Revival-influenced entrance indicates any concern for architectural style and fashion.

Two structures that were very much designed with fashion in mind are the Macomb House and the Emerson House. Both have flemish bond facades as were typical for the time. Both also are examples of the fashion of using glazed headers to create a decorative impression. The Macomb House decorations consist of a diamond on each gable end. At the Emerson House, the diamond is used on the north gable end but the facade uses glazed headers as part of the flemish bond brickwork. The effect when the sun shines on it is very impressive and dramatic. While these decorative features were once common, the survival rate is not high and buildings with patterned brickwork are no longer common in Delaware.

Two other rare buildings for Kent County are the two stone structures, Octagonal School House and York Seat. The York Seat stone addition was done in 1825 by Manlove Hayes, Sr. Octagonal School House was built in 1836 also under the direction of Manlove Hayes, Sr. The third stone building in the country Stone Tavern in Little Creek appears to have been built in the 1820s by Manlove Hayes, Sr. and his father-in-law John Bell. There is no record as to why the stone was used in the construction of these buildings or from where the stone was coming. Local legend has always stated that barges of stone were diverted from the Lewes Harbor of Refuge Project that was being built at the same time. While their fabric is unique to the country, the form of these buildings is not unique. They were erected using traditional plans. The one building that is radically different from the rest of the dwelling houses is the Parris House. It was constructed about 1860 by a relative newcomer to Dover, George Parris. Parris arrived in the Dover area in 1832. He was originally from New Jersey and Scharf's History of Delaware notes that he was from a second Baptist family around Dover. He was a merchant with extensive farm holdings and grain shipping interests in Leipsic and Smyrna. His house is based on traditional forms in that it is a center passage plan house. However, it is built in the Romantic Revival fashion of the time and employs elements of Greek Revival and Italianate architecture. Its stylistic elements were most likely similar to many of the tenant houses erected at this time but its scale was most likely larger. The Parris House is actually more closely related to dwellings in Dover than to dwellings in the rural countryside east of Dover.

Local significance of the district:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1984.