Sussex Oddities: Part One

The county has its fair share of odd and strange historic facts, infamous characters and unique happenings. Here are just a few.

Bury the Hatchet

Every two years, politicians gather in Georgetown to bury the hatchet in a unique event, Return Day – and not Returns Day as most people say. The event dates back to 1792 when residents traveled to The Circle to hear election results. The event includes a reception, parade, ceremony, music and an ox roast.

Last One

It's a safe bet that not many towns or counties show off their whipping post. Sussex County's concrete post is located near the old courthouse just off The Circle in Georgetown. Believe it or not, in 1972 Delaware was the last state to abolish whipping as a punishment for arson, larceny, breaking and entering and wife beating. The last whipping was carried out in 1952.

Religious Roots

Rehoboth Beach is strongly rooted in religion. Finding the place of his dreams on high ground along the shoreline, the Rev. Robert Todd of Wilmington founded The Rehoboth Beach Camp Meeting Association of the Methodist Episcopal Church to provide religious camp meetings during the summer. The grounds of the camp extended into the existing town, and Rehoboth Beach was born. The name – from the biblical book of Genesis meaning broad places – came from nearby Rehoboth Bay, which was named by early English explorers.

The First County Seat

Georgetown was not the first county seat of Sussex County. In fact, when Lewes was the county seat, Georgetown did not exist. Lewes served as county seat until 1791 when residents and officials decided to build a more central location. Georgetown was established at a central point no more than 16 miles from most county towns. For western Sussex residents, the horse or carriage ride to Lewes was considered a hardship.

Ruthless Killer

Sussex County is home to one of the nation’s first serial killers. Patty Cannon, leader of the infamous Cannon-Johnson Gang in western Sussex, became a notorious slave trader who wasn’t above killing and torturing free blacks or shipping them off to slavery in the South. She eventually confessed to nearly two dozen murders. She mysteriously died in a Georgetown jail cell in 1829, the same year four buried bodies – including three children – were found buried at a farm she owned. She lived in Sussex County but operated Johnson’s Tavern, which was on the state line between Sussex County and Caroline and Dorchester counties in Maryland at a crossroads now known as Reliance, west of Seaford.

Not the Ship

The historic Lightship Overfalls in Canalfront Park in Lewes is really the Lightship Boston, which was also Lightship Cornfield and the Lightship Cross Rip. A Lightship Overfalls served at the mouth of the Delaware Bay from 1893 to 1960, but it’s not the one so painstakingly restored by the Dirty Hands Gang during an 11-year project. The lightship in Lewes was given to the Lewes Historical Society in 1973 by the U.S. Coast Guard. A foundation was later formed to undertake restoration of the ship. The Overfalls ended up in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and is now known as Lightship Relief, a restored museum in Oakland, Calif. That restoration project took 17 years.

Sussex Hundreds

Delaware is divided into 33 hundreds with 11 hundreds in Sussex County. According to the Delaware Geological Survey, the use of hundreds in America dates back to Colonial days. Hundreds were used as divisions in England and were introduced in some of the British colonies. For Delaware, the origin is cited in a letter written in 1682 by William Penn, the newly-appointed Lord Proprietor of the province of Pennsylvania and Delaware. Penn directed that from this point onward, settlements be divided into sections of 100 families. Delaware is the only state that uses hundreds. Sussex has other strong ties to England including sister cities of Lewes and Seaford in the County of East Sussex.

North vs. South

As a border state during the Civil War, it was not uncommon for Northern and Southern sympathizers to squabble on The Circle in Georgetown after a night of drinking at taverns that served those with northern leanings and those with southern leanings.

Leader by Accident

The Delmarva poultry industry, so vital to the area's economy, can be traced back to a mistake. Thanks to a clerical error, instead of the 50 chickens she ordered for her egg-laying business, Cecile Steele of Ocean View received 500 birds. She decided to keep the chickens and sell them, giving birth to the modern broiler industry. Sussex County now holds the distinction as the leading broiler-producing county in the United States.

Only in Sussex

Sussex County has some rarities including one of the last remaining hand-crank railroad bridges and one of the last cable ferries. The Woodland Ferry – located near Seaford – has been crossing the Nanticoke River since the 1790s. It’s probably the oldest continuously operating cable ferry in the United States. The hand-crank railroad bridge crossing the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal has been in operation for nearly a century and may be the only one still in operation on an active rail line.

Industries Gone

Nearly every industry that helped forge the Sussex economy has gone by the wayside: ship building, iron forging, nylon production, cannery operations, button manufacturing, shirt factories and fish processing. Farming is one of the few Sussex industries that has survived.

The Surrender

U-858, the first German warship to surrender to American authorities, waved the white flag first in Cape May, N.J., and then at Fort Miles on May 14, 1945. After surrendering, the sub was used for publicity in War Bond drives and used for torpedo practice off New England. The sub was scuttled by the U.S. Navy at the end of 1947. The surrender is re-enacted each spring at Fort Miles by volunteer reenactors – including German reenactors as prisoners of war.

Those Towers

Here’s another tidbit about Fort Miles. The concrete observation towers were built hastily as an aid assist gunners to shoot the fort’s guns. They were built to last a few years, yet most are still standing nearly 70 years later.

Famous Rockets

The British used Congreve rockets for the first time during the bombardment of Lewes in 1813. It those rockets' red glare that Francis Scott Key watched when he wrote the Star-Spangled Banner as the British bombed Fort McHenry in Baltimore.

Strange Date

St. Peter's Episcopal Church cemetery in Lewes is filled with oddities. For example, no one knows exactly why Elizabeth Cullen's gravestone has her date of birth as Feb. 30, 1760, a date that does not exist. The church on Second Street provides a detailed map of its cemetery, which has what most believe is the oldest gravestone in the state.

On the Move

Per capita, Lewes must have more “moved” homes than any other town in America. Many of the homes in the historic section of town have been moved once if not twice. Shipcarpenter Square, in the middle of Lewes, is a small village of nothing but 18th and 19th century homes – many are old farmhouses – moved from other areas of Sussex County. Some were moved intact while others were disassembled, moved and reassembled.

Major Fort

It's hard to imagine what the Fort Miles area in Cape Henlopen State Park looked like during World War II. With a major military influx, the fort was the largest town in the county. Guns were aimed at the Delaware Bay to protect from a German surface invasion. Millions were spent to build the fort and thousands of men were trained, but no shot was fired at an enemy ship. Fort Miles was among the most fortified areas on the East Coast during World War II.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Sussex Oddities in a future edition of Cape Gazette and at capegazette.com.