Chris, this has nothing to do with your family history but this historical account is very interestign and what "they" want to do with it is appalling. Jackie >From: Historic Glasgow Park <historicglasgow@earthlink.net> >Reply-To: MDWASHIN-L@rootsweb.com >To: MDWASHIN-L@rootsweb.com >Subject: [MDWASHIN] Imminently Threatened by Development: The LaGrange >(Barczewski) farm in Glasgow, DE >Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 00:08:04 -0400 > >Imminently Threatened by Development: The LaGrange (Barczewski) farm in >Glasgow, DE > >Several private firms are aggressively attempting to purchase and then >immediately develop the entire Barczewski farm (also known as the La Grange >or Dr. Samuel Henry Black farm). This property is crisscrossed by state >and >Federally recognized wetlands and over 1 mile of drainage, is in the >Christiana watershed, contains part of the Glasgow recharge aquafer, and is >bounded by over 3/4 mile of the Muddy Run Creek. The 136 acres of woods on >the farm are in a US Department of Agriculture's local National Resources >Conservation Service long-term tree management plan. > >The Barczewski farm's 236 acres contain two documented Native American >Indian camps, earthen works from the British and Hessian occupation of >Aikentown (Glasgow), remnants of the Benjamin Latrobe feeder canal from >1804, and several structures on the National Register of Historic Places >(Dr. Samuel Henry Black). Dorcas Armitage Middleton Black was the wife of >Samuel H. Black. General Lafayette named the farm "La Grange" while a >visitor there in October 1824. The Federal US Censuses of 1810 and 1820 >for >DE/NCCo/Pencader Hundred, show that there were three FREE African-Americans >(unnamed - husband, wife, and daughter) who were part of Dr. Samuel H. >Black's household. > >The farm is located near the northwest corner of Routes U.S. 40 and Del. >896 >in Glasgow (New Castle County, Pencader Hundred), and is comprised of a >single tract of 236 acres. Approximately 100 acres are pastures, and >approximately 136 acres are wooded. The Muddy Run creek and some of its >tributaries run through and form the 3/4 of a mile of the northern boundary >of the property. > >This property contains the historic home and farm of Glasgow's early >physician, University of DE trustee, and state politician, Dr. Samuel Henry >Black. The land, however, had been farmed for over 100 years before Dr. >Black acquired it. The property has a carefully restored historic home and >preserved granary, each dating to 1815, and more recent barns and >outbuildings dating to the property's days in the 1940s through 1960s as >the >West End Dairy farm. Other family names associated over time with this >farm >include Middleton, Frazier, Leasure, Congo, Cooch, and Veach. > >Dr. Samuel H. Black built the property's granary. The building >incorporates >consolidated storage and processing functions and wheeled vehicle access. >This building is the earliest documented example of a drive-through granary >of the type that was to become popular throughout the Northeastern U.S. in >the mid-19th century. > >In July 1974, the large manor Federal period home and the granary were >incorporated into the National Park Service's National Register of Historic >Places (NRHP #74000601). Areas of NRHP significance of this property >include Health/Medicine, Architecture, Social History, and Agriculture. > >In 1985, the La Grange granary was incorporated into the highly selective >Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) / Historic American Engineering >Record (HAER) conducted by the US Department of the Interior and maintained >by the US Library of Congress (Survey # HABS DE-216). > >There are two archeologist documented Native American encampment sites on >the La Grange farm (the Butterworth and the Barczewski sites). These sites >date from 10,000 BC to 6,500 BC. Many authentic Paleo-Indian and Early >Archaic periods' arrow points, axe heads, and other stone implements have >been found on the farm. > >In the farm's woods there are authenticated, intact remains of British and >Hessian earthen trenches from the September 3, 1777, Revolutionary War >battle of Cooch's bridge. The trenches run parallel to the remnants of a >historic and ancient, but now abandoned road, of which the last remaining >vestiges exist on the LaGrange Farm. The earthworks are also parallel Rt. >40 West from Glasgow, DE, to Elkton, MD, and face Iron Hill. > >There is also documented evidence on the farm of Benjamin Latrobe's venture >to build a feeder canal in 1804 (New Castle County Historical Marker >NC-59). >The feeder canal remnants are intact. The canal was to be built from the >Elk Creek to the Christiana River, with the ultimate goal of the canal >connecting the Delaware and Chesapeake waterways. The project failed, >however, because the state of Delaware ran out of money before the canal >was >completed. The remnants of the feeder canal run from Rt. 40 West through >the >La Grange farm. > >In 1996, Anne Barczewski was honored with a prestigious historic >preservation award from the New Castle County Historic Preservation Review >Board. The Board placed a protective Historic Zoning overlay upon the >entire 236 acres of the La Grange farm. > >In 1997, Anne Barczewski was recognized as Delaware's Tree Farmer of the >Year. On June 27, 1997, Anne Barczewski told preservation advocates, "If >it was my last word, my last breath, I'd say 'no' to a developer." > >If you would like to help protect this property from development and >permanently preserve its historic, cultural, and natural resources for >future generations, please contact The Friends of Historic Glasgow, ATTN: >Nancy V. Willing, 5 Francis Circle, Newark, DE 19711. Telephone: (302) >366-1855. E-mail: historicglasgow@earthlink.net > >A petition focused on saving the Glasgow Historic Area, including the >Barczewski farm, is located at >http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/historicglasgowpark > > > >==== MDWASHIN Mailing List ==== >The OFFICIAL website for this list is: >http://midatlantic.rootsweb.com/MD/washington/ > >============================== >Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the >last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: >http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx >