Duck Creek Village
a.k.a. Salisbury
DE 65, between Duck Creek and Green's Branch, Smyrna, DEOld Duck Creek Village offers an architecturally valuable example of a master craftsman of the middle eighteenth century, contrasted with the simpler quarters characteristic of less affluent working families and a somewhat earlier period. The miller's house is on its original site near the mill. The plank house is a rare survival of an architectural type intermediate between log and frame.
The community of which "The Lindens" and its mill are survivals is the oldest in northern Kent County. It had begun before 1705, near where Kings Highway crossed Duck Creek. A gristmill and bolting mil1 had been established before 1717. The site remained in constant use for manufacturing, usually the processing of wheat and corn, until the middle twentieth century. The present mill is approximately a hundred years old. A Friends Meeting (1705), a Church of England chapel (c.1740) and a Presbyterian Church (1773), all on or near the the village tract, are now represented only by their cemeteries
The existing buildings provide an adequate visual basis for an interpretation of eighteenth century village life in the area. The site as a whole indicates the economic factors controlling the original placement and the survival of communities. It also provides space for the reconstruction of a larger portion of the village should that later be feasible. The planned outdoor recreation facilities will greatly increase the number of potential visitors.
"The Lindens" is operated by the the Duck Creek Historical Society under lease from the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs. Similar public-private and State-local cooperation will be continued and expanded as the site develops.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.