Northwest Fork Hundred in Bridgeville in Sussex County, Delaware — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
Sudler House
Attawattacoquin
Photographed by Pete Skillman, March 17, 2022
1. Sudler House Marker
Inscription.
Sudler House. Attawattacoquin. A patent for 1200 acres called Attawattacoquin, upon which the house and outbuildings stand, was granted in 1684 by Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, 2nd Proprietor and 6th and 9th Proprietary Governor of Maryland, to Christopher Nutter, a government agent and Native American interpreter from Maryland. Attawattacoquin is an Algonquin Indian word meaning "Village in the clearing of the woods [trees] by the river." A log cabin was the first dwelling erected on the property and was situated in the front yard of the present-day house. As the oldest-known domestic structure in Bridgeville, the earliest portion of the house was standing by 1730, along with a springhouse, icehouse, barns and stables. When the Mason-Dixon Line survey was completed in 1767, a new patent for Attawattacoquin was granted by William Penn's sons, as Proprietors of the Province of Pennsylvania and the Lower Counties (Delaware). The property was transferred to John Jessop, a descendant of Nutter's. Jessop, along with Freeborn Garrettson, was commissioned as a circuit rider by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, and Francis Asbury, the first Bishop of the Methodist-Episcopal Church in North America, to spread the Methodist-Episcopal Gospel in Canada. Together with Daniel Baker and William Morgan, Jessop and Garrettson became the foremost American circuit riders of the 18th century. Before leaving for Canada, Jessop sold the property to Dr. John Carey, Bridgeville's first physician who, in 1833, sold the property to its namesake Dr. John Ralston Sudler (1797-1871). In 1974, Sudler House was named to the National Register of Historic Places and in 1976, was entered into the Historic American Building Survey Registry as part of a special Bicentennial project honoring the original thirteen states.
A patent for 1200 acres called Attawattacoquin, upon which the house and outbuildings stand, was granted in 1684 by Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, 2nd Proprietor and 6th and 9th Proprietary Governor of Maryland, to Christopher Nutter, a government agent and Native American interpreter from Maryland. Attawattacoquin is an Algonquin Indian word meaning "Village in the clearing of the woods [trees] by the river." A log cabin was the first dwelling erected on the property and was situated in the front yard of the present-day house. As the oldest-known domestic structure in Bridgeville, the earliest portion of the house was standing by 1730, along with a springhouse, icehouse, barns and stables. When the Mason-Dixon Line survey was completed in 1767, a new patent for Attawattacoquin was granted by William Penn's sons, as Proprietors of the Province of Pennsylvania and the Lower Counties (Delaware). The property was transferred to John Jessop, a descendant of Nutter's. Jessop, along with Freeborn Garrettson, was
commissioned as a circuit rider by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, and Francis Asbury, the first Bishop
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of the Methodist-Episcopal Church in North America, to spread the Methodist-Episcopal Gospel in Canada. Together with Daniel Baker and William Morgan, Jessop and Garrettson became the foremost American circuit riders of the 18th century. Before leaving for Canada, Jessop sold the property to Dr. John Carey, Bridgeville's first physician who, in 1833, sold the property to its namesake Dr. John Ralston Sudler (1797-1871). In 1974, Sudler House was named to the National Register of Historic Places and in 1976, was entered into the Historic American Building Survey Registry as part of a special Bicentennial project honoring the original thirteen states.
Erected 2014 by Delaware Public Archives. (Marker Number SC-71.)
The view of Sudler House from the intersection of North Main Street and Church Street. The marker is visible on the left in front of the red outbuilding.
Marker is in Bridgeville, Delaware, in Sussex County. It is in Northwest Fork Hundred. It is at the intersection of North Main Street and Church Street, on the right when traveling north on North Main Street. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 127 N Main St, Bridgeville DE 19933, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the American Mid-Atlantic, on the Delmarva Peninsula, and on the Eastern Seaboard. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Netherland, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, and the Antebellum South.
The Sudler House is architecturally significant, for it is the only frame dwelling in North West Fork Hundred known to contain a corner end chimney. Its conservative design, proportions and elegant interior enable the Sudler House to be considered an excellent example of local vernacular architecture.
It is also the oldest known domestic structure in the town of Bridgeville, which was recognized as the "heart of the greatest fruit and berry growing section of the Peninsula" during the nineteenth-century.
(Submitted on November 21, 2024, by Pete Skillman of Townsend, Delaware.)
Credits. This page was last revised on June 5, 2026. It was originally submitted on March 17, 2022, by Pete Skillman of Townsend, Delaware. This page has been viewed 781 times since then and 41 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3. submitted on March 17, 2022, by Pete Skillman of Townsend, Delaware. • J. Makali Bruton was the editor who published this page.
