Just south of Dover, a little known piece Delaware history is emerging on a property owned by Kent County and leased to Delaware State University for various history and preservation programs.
WDDE’s Ben Szmidt visited Wildcat Manor to learn more about the story being unearthed there.
It sits on an unmarked drive off of Sorghum Mill Road - a single structure on a 9 acre property along the St. James River owned by the Hunn family from the mid 1700s until 2005.
Wildcat Manor is the last evidence of what was once a bustling community according to the director of DSU's Historic Preservation Program Robin Krawitz.
[audio:http://www.wdde.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/wildcat-c-seg.mp3|titles=Listen to WDDE's Ben Szmidt piece on Wildcat Manor.]
“The archeological remains of the port of forest landing which is down at the foot of the lawn here and Hunntown which was a community of workers that facilitated all the stuff that happened here," said Krawitz. "The Hunn family, into the 19th century, were basically based out of Philadelphia and so they came and used this seasonally. And so the people who were here year round were the African American population and the community of workers that were down here."
While this might seem typical of a historical Delaware farming property, there was more here than met the eye. The port on the Hunn property appears to have played a role in some of the earliest traces of the Underground Railroad that developed shortly after the Revolutionary War.
“The two gentlemen who owned this property funded a boat captain who was African American to ferry people from here to New Jersey," said Krawitz. "The connection between Delaware and New Jersey right after the American Revolutionary period is very strong, there is a lot of documentation of that over in New Jersey. We are only now beginning to uncover that here on our side.”
The Hunn family continued this legacy throughout the 19th century. John Hunn, often credited as the architect of Delaware’s Underground Railroad, even faced prosecution for his actions. His son, also named John, eventually became Delaware's 51st governor. Krawitz found a rare article from The Delaware Advocate that praised both of the Hunns.
“(It) talks about how the African American community should support John Hunn for governor because of his upbringing and because of his father’s work, both here on the Underground Railroad and during the civil war and after the civil war in South Carolina,” said Krawitz.
Work on the house and archeological work on the property are only in their infancy, but DSU does have a long term vision for the property.
“What we are trying to do with the property is to make it a learning laboratory for our preservation students, and to open it up to Delaware State students, and then begin interpreting for the larger community as well," said Krawitz. "We’d like to integrate this property into the larger planning process for the entire park here.”
Completing those plans will likely take a significant amount of time, but the project has help from a familiar source: the descendents of the Hunn family. They set up a fund for the property through the Delaware Community Foundation called Friends of Wildcat.
"This family is still very attached to this property and is very involved in how this is all going," said Krawitz. "We sort of look at it as a three pronged attack for this property. We’ve got the Kent County involved, we’ve got Delaware State University involved, and we’ve got the Hunn family involved. We see each other as partners in keeping this building and telling this important story.”
WDDE’s Black History Month coverage is made possible, in part, by the Delaware Humanities Forum – the state arm of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Delaware Humanities Forum helps Delawareans learn about life and work by connecting them with other people, cultures and ideas.