This Coastal Connection is sponsored by Baths by Spicer Bros.
MILTON, Del. — For one Delaware family, a farmhouse that once stood along Route 1 between Milton and Slaughter Beach was more than just a building — it was the center of generations of family memories.
Earlier this year, the deteriorating farmhouse was torn down for safety reasons. But siblings Ed Short and Betty Sperati and their cousin Kay White Wheatley say the legacy of their grandparents’ farm lives on.
“I used to cut grass for a dollar and that was in the… well, let’s see, late ’50s, early ’60s,” Short recalled. “I babysat for 50 cents an hour," White Wheatley said. "So, times have changed.”
The three remember spending their childhood running around the property and helping with chores.
“We learned to go in and retrieve the eggs under the hens that were sitting on them,” Short said.
Short still keeps the original deed from 1918, when their grandparents first bought the land — 80 acres for just a few thousand dollars.
Sperati and Wheatley remember picking produce, while Short recalls working on the property himself.
Their grandfather, Chester Short, grew corn and soybeans but was especially known in the area for growing lima beans, which were sold to local canneries. Their grandmother, Lydia, carefully documented the farm’s finances.
“Here’s income for eggs and chickens… that would’ve been 1948,” Short said while looking through the records.
The farm also had several animals, including a mule named Jack.
The family also remembers storms that swept through the property over the years.
“That’s why I think these pictures were taken after 1934, because the hurricane Hazel took that out,” Short said while pointing to a photograph. “And then this tree, I remember being down here in 1955. I think it was Hurricane Diane. Kind of did a mess with that tree.”
The area looked very different decades ago, long before Route 1 expanded into the highway it is today.
“See, this would have been taken probably in the ’60s,” Short said. “But I think the Route 1 extra lane — was that done in the late ’60s, early ’70s?”
Over time, the grandchildren grew up and moved on with their lives. The property changed hands several times, and the old farmhouse slowly fell into disrepair.
“It’s sad to see it go,” Short said. “But at the same time, anytime we’ve gone by it in recent years, it’s surprising that it’s still held up as much as it did. I mean, the second floor was kind of collapsing in on it. The roof has had holes in it for a number of years.”
Even with the building gone, the memories remain.
“There’s so many memories from here,” Sperati said.
“At Christmas time we used to come down after we would open our gifts,” Short recalled. “We would meet down here in the afternoon.”
While the farmhouse may be gone, the family says the legacy of the land — and the memories made there — will last for generations.