Ghostly Wine Story

Woodburn @1959 by the Historic American Buildings Survey

It is Halloween time again, and instead of telling you about which wines you should match with which candies (Bubbles matches with them all....but drink what you like) Qorkz has decided to tell you a ghost story.  So grab your blanket, turn off the lights, turn on your flashlight, oh and grab your candy and wine.  Or popcorn and wine.  Or just wine.

This ghost story is terrifying.... because it is TRUE!

For reals.  The Governor of Delaware lives in a house called Woodburn.  The land on which the house was built was a gift of the Swedish crown to David Morgan and his heirs in 1684.  According to Shortly afterward, the colony of New Sweden was absorbed into New Amsterdam and then later England, when it was part of the colony of Delaware.  The property was held by the Morgan family for 100 years when it was sold by the local sheriff for $110.  That is 412 acres of downtown Dover Delaware for $110.

Anywho.... Charles Hillyard bought the property and within a couple of years built the house called Woodburn.  Over the years the house has changed hands as one might expect.  It was owned by U.S. Senator Martin Bates, was rented to Governor Jacob Stout.  By 1825 the Bates family Woodburn to the Cowgill family who were Quakers and abolitionists who sold the slaves and let them meet in the Great Hall.  Many years later the property was sold to another Senator, Daniel O. Hastings who started adding improvements.  Then Frank Hall made more improvements to the inside.  When Mr. Hall died the property was in limbo.  The land was sold to a school and the house to Thomas Murray.  The State of Delaware discussed buying Woodburn as its Executive Mansion but couldn’t come to an agreement.

Finally, in 1965, it was purchased by Delaware.  For the next year,  Jessica Irby-Terry, Delaware’s first lady who had visited the house as a child, began renovations.  The following year, it was opened to the public and has served as the Governor’s mansion ever since.

Not all of the former resident’s left when their family sold Woodburn.  Some of the stories surround Woodburn during the Cowgill’s ownership. Staunch abolitionists who had freed the slaves that came with the property, the Cowgill’s were also trying to protect those same people who were being preyed upon by slave traders who kidnapped freed slaves and sold them back into bondage.  George Alfred Townsend wrote a fictionalized account of Patty Cannon (“The Entailed Hat” ), one of these slavers who operated near Woodburn while the Cowgill’s owned it.

Other residents are more visible.  A young girl in a gingham dress is often seen walking around the grounds with a  candle.  No one is sure who she is, but even the website for Woodburn indicates that she was seen most recently during the inaugural party for Governor Mike Castle in 1985.

And most frightening?

The ghost of Charles Hillyard.  Yes, the man who built Woodburn has been seen repeatedly since 1815.  He is often seen walking around the building, especially the stairs dressed in his breeches, ruffled shirt and powdered wig.  Most terrifying?  If you accidentally leave a glass of wine out?  He will drink it!

NNNOOOO! Not the WIIINNEE!

Happy Halloween.