I remember driving by and seeing livestock on this property
when we moved here in 1988, and marveling at how close we lived to actual,
working farms! At any time of the day we could always hear seep bleating and
cows mooing—and I had a real sense of having moved into a development that was
in the country! Across the street from this farm were several other farms, but over
time, the properties have made way to housing developments.
Sadly, this barn is now about to be demolished to make way
for a controversial charter school (controversial because it is thought that
the property is neither big enough nor are the roads able to handle the extra
traffic this school will create). It sits on the old Coffee Run Mission site in
Hockessin, which is the site of a historic Roman Catholic mission church started
by Father Kenney in the late 1700’s. Out of this place both St. Mary’s Church
(now St. Mary of the Assumption) and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington
started. This barn was part of a homestead that included a fieldstone house built
in 1812 (now torn down) and a cemetery that is the resting place of 62 graves.
Construction crews have moved in to clear the property, so who knows how much longer this barn will continue to stand? It doesn’t take long for things to be forgotten, does it?
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