A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....10-24,25-07....Delaware ~ The First State

October 24, 2007 | Billie

[Gabz]

LOL!!!! I WAS a lobbyist, for 20 years, and mostly in Delaware, although I did do some in MD, PA, and VA.

[Billie]

Hi, GeeBee, and thank you so much. Have to say I never thought a lot about Delaware until I started researching it, and it’s so far and away ‘different’ from my Texas upbringing, I really think I’d love visiting there. (might not want to stay in one of those haunted inns though.) :)

[Billie]

To lead others out of the darkness of sin, let them see the light of Christ in your life.

"This little light of mine...I'm gonna let it shine..."

[Billie]

Thank you, Meg! I think we should just hop on that train and GO! :)

[Billie]

Hey, it’s my favorite Owl! Thank you, Temple - good to see you again, and I sure do understand why you’d buy ‘big ticket items’ in Delaware - that sales tax can get pretty hefty on a high dollar purchase!

[Billie]

Thanks, Rus - appreciate that. :)

[Billie]

Beautifully ‘framed’ - butterflies are such beautiful creatures anyway. Thanks, Meg. :)

[Billie]

Thank you, Amy. I have gotten hooked on these state cyber tours, too - am glad that we're profiling them again - whittling them down so there are only a little over a dozen left to visit! Just to keep everyone 'honest' (LOL), here are 10 of the remaining 14 states to be presented - and the 'presenters'!

• Kentucky ~ Mama_Bear & JustAmy
• Washington ~ DiverDave & Billie
• Ohio ~ Dutchess & DollyCali
• Oklahoma ~ Aquamarine
• New York ~ GodBlessUSA
• Montana ~ Mama_Bear
• Illinois ~ Mama_Bear
• Arkansas ~ DollyCali
• Rhode Island ~ DollyCali
• North Dakota ~ DollyCali

[Billie]

Hi, jaycee. Thank you - am glad you like today’s thread and look forward to seeing you back this evening with your contribution “goodies” (’cause you’re hooked on graphics now, too!) :)

[Billie]

Greetings back atcha!

[Billie]

Hi, Aqua - thank you so much - glad you like the backgrounds. Got your mail and will answer in a bit - will help you however I can - hope you know that. Sometimes it just takes one ‘lightbulb’ moment and everything comes together. :)

[Billie]

Awww, thank you, Kitty, and your peach blossoms are so pretty! The only season that’s close to Autumn in beauty is Spring when trees start to bloom. :)

[Billie]

Well, how nice to see you again, Gabz! Hope you’re doing well - I didn’t know you were a former Delawarian. (but it sounds like it wasn’t your favorite place to live)

[Billie]

Thanks, Lori. I’d also enjoy visiting Deleware I believe. (if I didn’t have to ‘get’ there, but could just ‘be’ there! I hate flying and it’s a looooong way to drive!)

[Gabz]

Hi Billie!!!!

I lived in Delaware for 21 yeras before moving to Virginia, although I’m still only about an hour away from the MD/DE state line and we have family and friends there so still visit. My husband grew up in Dover and that is where our daughter was born.

Delaware is a beautiful state, it’s the politics that are the absolute pits.

I cook at the local Moose Lodge on Wednesdays and so I have to scoot, but I will be back later this evening!!!!

You did a great job here.

[Billie]

Delaware is a beautiful state, it’s the politics that are the absolute pits. I cook at the local Moose Lodge on Wednesdays and so I have to scoot, but I will be back later this evening!!!! You did a great job here.

Thanks, Gabz - I know nothing about the politics there of course, and we don't even try to get into that when we 'profile' a state - just the good stuff. :)

[The Mayor]

: )

Amen!

[Mama_Bear]

I found another haunted house in Delaware! They seem to be real proud of their ghosts in The First State. LOL!

The Woodburn Governor's Mansion
in Dover, Delaware

Built in 1790, the Woodburn Mansion has served as the Governor's mansion since the mid nineteen-hundreds. As with many of these old houses, it has seen its share of good and bad and has become the eternal play ground of many spirits.

The first apparition spotted in the house was in the year of 1824. Apparently the Bates family, who resided here, had an overnight guest named Lorenzo Dow. Mr. Dow was coming down the stair case, on his way to dinner, when he past an older gentlemen on the steps. He made is way into the dining room and sat down with the others. When everyone at the table began eating their meal, Mr. Dow asked why they were not waiting for the older gentlemen to join them. Everyone at the table became silent; knowing there shouldn't have been anyone else in the house. Mr. Dow described the man's clothing as knee breeches, a ruffled blouse and he wore a white wig. He said the apparition appeared to be a solid person. It turned out that this apparition was the long dead father of Mr. Bates!

Another owner claimed that the ghosts in the house loved to drink up his wine during the midnight hours. He reported seeing a man in a white wig (I'm assuming the departed Mr. Bates), drinking his wine in the dining room. Apparently Mr. Bates also liked to help himself to the expensive wines that were kept in the cellar, as well.

A third well known apparition in this home is that of a little girl. This departed little lady has been seen outside, as well as inside, and she has as much spunk in death as she probably had in life. The little girl has been known to tug at peoples skirts or sleeves during parties in the house and she has been seen in several rooms or by the garden pool playing.

The fourth ghost is said to have been a Southern Slave Raider who hid in a tree on the property and accidentally slipped and caught his head in a hole in the tree trunk. Apparently this freak accident is what killed the man and his apparition has been seen hanging from that same tree in the late evening hours. This ghost likes to rattle chains inside and outside of the house and many have heard him moaning.

[Gabz]

........and we don't even try to get into that when we 'profile' a state - just the good stuff. :)

Billie, my dear I know that!!!!

Mama Bear, I'm wracking my brain at the moment to remember the name of the house next to the Governor's Mansion, we think it is either Hull or Hall.....but that has as many stories as Woodburn.

While I was telling him about this thread my husband reminded me of another notoriously haunted place in Delaware. Fleming's Landing Bridge. It's on a stretch of Rte 9, east of and between Odessa and Smyrna. Even in the best of weather and in broad daylight I always hated crossing that "bridge" because it was practically a 90 degree curve on a 2 lane road with no shoulders.

The bridge and road have both been straightened out and replaced in the past 10 years, but so many vehicles have gone into the water there that it is notorious for being haunted.

In Billie's original profile, Legislative Hall is spoken of, but the truly historic building is the Old State House. The Old State House is the oldest Capitol building still in continual use in the United States. For years I had an office just 3 doors away from it, in the building that was the very first post office in Dover, DE. Prior to it being the post office it was a tavern and my office was in the original part of the building which was built in 1782 (if I remember correctly). Diagonally across the circle, and on the same side of the street as the Old State House was the Golden Fleece Tavern, which is where the work was done to make Delaware the First State.

[Majie Purple]

These links go hand in hand/together...Please read what’s on my Profile page link before deciding whether or not to proceed to the second link.

Explainations for both links are found within the 1st link.

I can’t explain it any better in public than what I’ve written on my profile page...

http://www.freerepublic.com/~purplemountainsmaj/

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1580332/posts

Take Care! I don’t have more words than these to convey...They will have to do...
Please don’t glut This Thread with replies back to me about what You read within my post...I gave any interested an option/link an old Thread of mine to do so...read my links & it will be All Clear...LoL!
I am putting this on my co Fave FR Threads...Tee Dose & The Finest /The Finest and the Dose but I can’t post 2 places at once is All...Love always Majie;Purple;Maj;Maji...