Mystery of the Stone Troughs...Solved!

A Wilmington Fountain Society water trough

I don't consider myself to be a great researcher or writer, or even have particularly brilliant insights into the information I gather and pass along here. However, one 'Added Value" I can contribute is being able to piece together disparate pieces of information that I've come across over the years. Yes, get to the point, Scott. Six long years ago (although, honestly, February feels like six long years ago), it was brought to my attention that there were five stone troughs (that's what we guessed they were) located at Delcastle Golf Course, the former Delcastle Farm for the New Castle County Workhouse at Greenbank. They all had dates inscribed on them -- two with 1902, one each from 1903, 1905, and 1912. Later, we learned there were several other similar troughs scattered around New Castle County, in places like Canby Park, Granogue, and Hockessin.

There were stories that they were made by prisoners at the workhouse or at the farm, but no proof of either. From the style we figured all these stone troughs were related and connected somehow, but no one knew from whence they came. Then, this morning, thanks to one word I saw in a Facebook post (thanks for sharing, Robin Brown!), it all clicked. Then, I even discovered who was responsible for the existence of the troughs at Delcastle. It turns out, these lithic beauties were the work of a 19th Century philanthropic group -- The Wilmington Fountain Society. Founded in 1870 by Ferris Bringhurst, the group erected drinking fountains around the city for the benefit of city dwellers. More importantly for us, they also placed troughs for the benefit of the city dwellers' horses and dogs. In fact the Wilmington Fountain Society is considered a precursor to today's Delaware SPCA. The troughs were said to be hollowed out of large pieces of granite.

The Samuel Tyson House, aka The Hopyard Farm

In the early years of Mill Creek Hundred, many of the large plantations were given names by their new owners -- names that would have been well-known in the area in their day. Over the years, most of these monikers -- ones like New Design, Wedgebury, and Cuba Rock -- have fallen out of use and been largely forgotten. However, at least one name in the northwestern corner of MCH, dating back to the 17th Century, has remained attached to a particular house on this tract, being used as recently as this year in a real estate ad. Much of the original Hopyard Tract is now part of White Clay Creek State Park. In fact, the Samuel Tyson House, which came to be known as Hopyard Farm, is one of the few private residences now standing on what was once a tract as large as 1000 acres. Most of the rest of the (much newer) homes stand on land sold by its last "historic" owners.

The early history of the Hopyard Tract dates back to the 17th Century and is, quite frankly, pretty confusing. For our purposes here we'll jump ahead to 1720, when John Chambers purchased 664 acres referred to as the Hopyard. He devised the land to his son William in 1730, and William almost immediately sold 430 acres of it to Joseph Chambers, most likely his brother. Joseph, in turn, sold 221 acres of his land to Henry Geddes in 1738.

Geddes seems to have lived out the rest of his days here, passing in about 1756. In his will he left his property equally to his widow and four children, with ownership eventually being consolidated by his son, William Geddes. In 1763, Geddes (through his brother-in-law James Latimer) sold the tract to David Montgomery, of Lancaster County. Although David was again listed as being of Lancaster County when he sold it in 1802 to William Montgomery (presumably his son), there is evidence that he did live here, at least for a time. David Montgomery served in the Revolutionary War, and was commissioned as Captain of a Delaware regiment in September 1778. Perhaps he moved back to Pennsylvania at a later date. Whether or not Montgomery leased the farm at some point, some of the language used in earlier deeds implies that the Hopyard was leased prior to the Chambers era. However, beginning in 1803, all that would change.