Reed, Jehu, House
U.S. 113 and DE 8, Little Heaven, DEThe Jehu Reed House, home of an early pioneer in scientific agriculture, survives as an example of a house that was enlarged and improved to conform to changing tastes and economic status.
In 1685 a tract of land called "Bartlett's Lot" was taken up by Nicholas Bartlett, Samuel Burberry, and John Newell. John Newell obtained most of the tract, which descended to his son, also named John. John Newell (II) sired Henry Newell, who "settled on his father's place." Henry Newell married Margaret Wilson and erected a house in 1771. Because Henry died without a son, the property was willed to his three daughters.
Ann Newell bought her two sisters' property rights and married Elias Sipple in 1786. The daughter of this union, Margaret Sipple, married Jehu Reed in 1827. By 1829 Jehu Reed was known for his intelligent farm practices, and helped spread the acceptance of "scientific farming" throughout the state. He is said to have been the first in Kent County to introduce the cultivation of peaches on budded trees.
In 1858 Jehu M. Reed, son of Jehu Reed and Margaret Sipple, bought the Reed Farm. He expanded the farm activities to include the cultivation of other fruits and some vegetables. Prompted by the prosperity of the farmlands, Jehu M. Reed enlarged the eighteenth-century farmhouse to accommodate his style of living. Rather than obliterate the original house, however, Reed incorporated it into the fabric of his Victorian plantation house.
The farm continued in the possession of the Reed family until the early portion of the twentieth century when it was bought by Arley Magee, a Dover lawyer and Judge of the Court of common Pleas. Since then the house has changed ownership several times.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
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.