Frederica: A Diamond in the Rough
 |
| One of the many striking historic buildings in Frederica |
Frederica’s story goes back to 1681, when William Penn granted this land to Boneny Bishop. A port cropped up on the Murderkill River here, first called Indian Point and then Johnny Cake Landing. The town was surveyed and laid out by Jonathan Emerson in 1772. In 1796, Emerson’s daughter proposed that the town be renamed Frederica Landing, and in 1826, the town of Frederica was formally incorporated by Delaware.
The oldest house in town is Hathorn-Betts House, also known as Hathorn-Lowber House or Peter Lowber House. It’s a beautiful Georgian house built between 1730 and 1750 (sources give varying dates). It sits in the middle of Market Street because it predates the town.
 |
| Hathorn-Betts House, also known as Hathorn-Lowber House or Peter Lowber House |
Another very early house is at 123 Front Street, on the outskirts of town and therefore probably once a farmhouse. It was built around 1750.
 |
| 123 Front Street in Frederica |
Under its stucco are peeks of Flemish bond brickwork.
 |
| Flemish bond brickwork at 123 Front Street in Frederica |
Like all towns along the Delaware Bayshore Byway, Frederica’s fortunes were tied to water. Frederica is six miles upstream on the Murderkill River from the Delaware Bay. (See my blog post on Magnolia to learn how the river got its gruesome-sounding name.) This location was far enough from the Delaware Bay for the land to be firm enough to build on, but close enough to the Delaware Bay for the river to be navigable. Its businesses thus focused on shipping and shipbuilding.
The center of town in those days was the intersection of Front and Market Streets. Robbins Hardware Store, on the northeast corner of Front and Market, was built around 1730 as the Dill Hotel. It’s probably the oldest commercial building in Frederica and perhaps one of the oldest in the state.
 |
| Robbins Hardware Store in Frederica |
The brickwork of Robbins Hardware Store is all-leader bond: all the bricks are placed crosswise, with their short ends showing. This may be the only building in Delaware with this kind of brickwork. (See my blog on St. Jones Reserve for more information on early Delaware brickwork patterns.)
 |
| All-leader bond brickwork of Robbins Hardware Store in Frederica |
Diagonally across the intersection from Robbins Hardware, on the southwest corner of Front and Market Streets, is Wootten Store, built around 1797 and obviously much altered since then. This building may have started life as the “mansion house” of Benjamin Dill.
 |
| Wootten Store in Frederica |
The small building to the left of Wootten Store in the photo above was Frederica’s first schoolhouse, built in 1810, and later a post office.
Frederica’s fortunes began to decline with the arrival of railroads, which bypassed Frederica. The last shipbuilding yard closed in 1890. Canneries then became important local industries until disease and overfishing wiped out fish and oysters in the Delaware Bay in the early 20th century, as I discuss here. Today a good many buildings in Frederica are vacant and others need rehabilitation. But that makes Frederica is a diamond in the rough. There are stunning examples of architecture from the 1800s here, waiting to be discovered.
The building pictured below, across Front Street from Wooten Store, looks like it was once another store in Frederica’s commercial hub.
 |
| Building on northwest corner of Front and Market Streets in Frederica |
Trinity Methodist Church, a couple of doors west of Wootten Store on Front Street, was built in 1856.
 |
| Trinity Methodist Church in Frederica |
Another store is at the corner of Market and David Streets.
 |
| Store on the southeast corner of Market and David Streets in Frederica |
Frederica is full of fascinating examples of historic architecture. (One example is the photo at the very top of this blog post.) The flat roof and brackets under the eaves of the house below are Italianate, while the elaborately decorated porch is Eastlake (Victorian). The addition on the left, with shingled walls and Craftsman windows, was probably added in the late 1800s.
 |
| House on Market Street in Frederica |
 |
| A delightful house in Frederica |
 |
| 112 Market Street in Frederica |
The steep roof and pointed ("lancet") window in the gable of the house below are Gothic Revival.
 |
| Gothic Revival house in Frederica |
Just outside Frederica are two more historic gems. About a mile north on DE 1 is Barratt’s Chapel, built around 1780 and the oldest surviving Methodist Church in the United States.
 |
| Barratt's Chapel |
Its brickwork features some inset bricks, designed to hold scaffolding when the building needed repairs. There are some lovely brickwork designs in the gable.
 |
| Barratt's Chapel's distinctive brickwork |
If you like poking around old cemeteries, the one at Barratt’s Chapel is huge.
 |
| Barratt's Chapel cemetery |
Barratt’s Chapel has a separate museum, but because of the pandemic it was closed when we visited.
The other historic gem just outside Frederica is Mordington, built around 1770-1800. Its style is considered Georgian-Federal transition.
 |
| Mordington, outside Frederica |
Mordington is southwest of Frederica, on DE 15 (Canterbury Road), just north of McCauley’s Pond. It was built by an (obviously very prosperous) ironmaster/miller. In the 1930s, H. F. Dupont bought much of the interior woodwork and installed it in Winterthur. Mordington is a private home, so please view it from the road.
If you’d like a meal while you visit Frederica, just south of town on DE 1 is Meding’s Seafood, one of Delaware’s beloved seafood restaurants.
Online information on Frederica’s historic buildings is scant. The only two online sources I found were Frederica’s nomination to become a National Historic District and a history of Frederica by Mildred Coverdale posted on the town’s website (scroll down to the bottom of the page to find it). Both were published in 1976—over 50 years ago. Both describe interesting and important buildings, but the buildings’ locations are often described vaguely, without accompanying photos, and their addresses, when given, don’t always match those on Google Maps. Some of the buildings described in those documents are now gone. A guide to Delaware Bayshore Byway architecture published by the University of Delaware's Center for Historic Architecture and Design has brief descriptions of the architectural features of five Frederica buildings.
Mildred Coverdale opens her book with this preface: “In Frederica there is the belief that you are not a true native unless you were born here. Most of the people living here are descendants from the original inhabitants and very proud of their ancestral background. Through this book, you will live in the past and present. After taking the tour of the town, it is the hope of the townsfolk that you will return.”
My hope is that Frederica will someday be able to create a walking tour and perhaps add small building plaques as Port Penn has done, so visitors can fully appreciate the town’s history and its historic treasures.
Is this the same Linda Suskie known as the Outcomes Assessment "Guru" ?
ReplyDeleteUm, yup.
DeleteSomeone on Facebook pointed out that two houses on the Delaware Bayshore Byway are called Lowber House. Hathorn-Betts House in Frederica, also known as Peter Lowber House, was built around 1730-1750. Matthew Lowber House in Magnolia was built around 1774. Perhaps Matthew Lowber was Peter Lowber's son or grandson?
ReplyDeleteMatthew Lowber was indeed Peter Lowber’s grandson. His father was Michael Lowber, Peter Lowber’s son.
DeleteThank you for solving the mystery!
DeleteAt the Old State House in Dover, there is told a story about James Summers, a free black man who got his enslaved children freed in 1790’s. The original slaveowner of these children and their mother Judea (married James Summers) was “Peter Lowber of Murderkill Hundred”. Lowber had included in his will the manumission of Judea, but the Will didn’t mention the children. With the witnessing of Peter’s grandson John Lowber, the Recorder of Deeds at the time granted James a manumission certificate for his two children.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing this! As I researched the histories of old buildings along the Delaware Bayshore Byway, I was struck by how little was said about the enslaved people who lived here or the fact that the original owners of these buildings were often slaveowners. You've added important information here.
Delete