PO Box 696 Laurel, DE 302-875-9319

Named for the native laurel growing along Broad Creek, our town has a history dating back to the times when Nanticoke Indians roamed our dense pine forests, fished, and trapped along our streams. From the earliest days the area was considered part of Maryland, whose General Assembly laid out a three thousand acre reservation here for the Nanticokes in 1711. By 1768, though, the land was sold. Maryland's ruling Lords Baltimore thus opened up the region for settlement, at the same time firming up their claims to what had always been an area under disputable jurisdiction, having been claimed by both Maryland and the Penn family of Pennsylvania. It wasn't, however, until after 1775 that boundary disputes were finally settled, securing once-and-for-all the area of Pennsylvania, whose three lower counties would become Delaware after the American Revolution. As for the town itself, Laurel had its beginnings by the mid 18th century when a shipping point developed at the headwaters of Broad Creek. Reaping the rewards of abundant forests and water-powered grist and saw mills, the town was laid out into streets and lots in 1789. Farther expansion came about in 1859, when the downstate extension of the Delaware Railroad brought enhanced opportunities for the export of local products, as well as the monetary means to bring back to Laurel the cultural trends of the outside world. By the time the town was incorporated in 1883, Laurel was considered among the finest in the state. From the simplicity of the earliest Federal-period homes to the opulence of Victorian residences on tree-lined Central Avenue, Laurel's Historic District displays a veritable smorgasbord of architectural styles. The uniqueness of such diversity and the high survival rate of original building stock merited placement on the National Register of Historic Places, the largest such district in Delaware. Although a significant number of structures dating to the early 19th century survive, perhaps the most influential factor which shaped our streetscape was the Marvil Package Company, purported around the turn of the 20th century to be the largest manufacturer of baskets in the world. Reflective of the town's prosperity during that period are block after block of Queen Anne and Colonial Revivals with fanciful bargeboard trim, second-floor sleeping porches, and cast-iron fences. Distinctive decorative elements from this era are jig-sawn balustrades, cut shingles, and fleur-de-lis bracket trim (a motif produced in local mills and seen on porches both meager and grand all over town). For a detailed account of the homes in Laurel's Historic District, ask for a copy of the Laurel Historical Society's Historic District Residential Walking Tour. A late 18th- early 19th-century National Register brick plantation house on Delaware Avenue Extended at the edge of town, Spring Garden has been charmingly converted into a delightful bed and breakfast inn, featured not too long ago in Mid-Atlantic Country magazine. Its barn is one of few to survive from early times. Old Christ Church, built in 1771-1772, is located on the banks of Chipman's Pond off Rt. 24, one mile east of Laurel. Said to be one of only about a dozen churches along the Atlantic Coast to survive unaltered from America's pre-Revolutionary past, Old Christ Church is known for its paneled interior and the fact that is has never been plumbed, heated, electrified, or painted. Visitors and tours are welcomed. Open July 4th and Sundays April through October from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. "Stepping Inside," says Colonial Williamsburg's Carl Lounsbury, "is like entering 18th-century England." On a tour of Bay Country backwater, National Geographic magazine dubbed nearby Bethel, only five minutes downstream, "a toy village come to life." Once a busy shipbuilding center as home of the Chesapeake Schooner Rams, this quaint, picket-fenced community of ship captains' and seafarers' homes is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Bethel Historical Society maintains an open-by-appointment museum focusing on the village's maritime past. Contacts are posted on the museum door. From sunup to sundown daily, the Woodland Ferry continues an over two hundred year-old tradition of plying across the Nanticoke at the picturesque village of Woodland. Carrying a maximum of four cars, the free-to-the-public cable ferry survives from an era when Woodland was an active steamboat stop and a station along the Underground Railroad. Its greatest notoriety, though, was as the center of operations for the hated slave trader Patty Cannon. Woodland Ferry welcomes motorists, cyclists, and foot passengers.