Ryves Holt House:
Delaware’s Oldest

by Hazel D. Brittingham

Ryves Holt House in Lewes, long hailed as the town's oldest house which has earned a pat on the back for abiding on its original site at the corner of Second and Mulberry Streets, is now recognized as the most ancient building standing in the State of Delaware. A bronze tablet placed on the exterior of the house by the state's Historic Markers Commission in 1930 has acquainted passers-by with the personage for whom it is still associated—Ryves Holt, Esq. (1696-1763). He was a prominent resident of Lewes when the state was known as the Three Lower Counties on the Delaware.

An additional medal has recently been hung on the chest of the building owned by St. Peter's Episcopal Church. The new installation is a marker with letters and framing faced in gold, in stark contrast to the weathered square above it. The new plaque proclaims:

Ryves Holt House
|Built 1665
Oldest Building Standing in
State of Delaware
Listed on National Register 1977.
Placed by
Delaware State Society
Colonial Dames XVII Century
October 2, 1990

On the date recorded, the marker was dedicated at a gathering of officers and members of the Colonial Dames, an organization that works to preserve historic sites throughout the nation.Traditionally, the oldest portion of the house has been dated at about 1685. Recent scientific studies have dated the house two decades earlier by the process termed dendrochronology. This technique examines growth rings of woody plants by extracting borings from timbers in a building and, combined with other data, enables experts to make interpretations to provide accurate dating of the construction. The final report from the American Institute of Dendrochronology, Inc., of Blacksburg, Virginia, verified that wood used in construction of the Ryves Holt House came from oak trees hewed and sawed after the growing seasons of 1665 and 1666.

The original portion of the house (16 by 21 feet, one and a half stories) extends from the present entrance, where there was once a corner fireplace, to Mulberry Street. Extensive examination of the early structure has shown that the interior, when built, was unplastered and that the framing timbers were intended to be exposed. The unpainted posts, studs, and ceiling beams have chamfered edges with decorative stops reflecting European construction techniques rarely used in this country after the early 1700s. The passing years brought expansions and a multitude of alterations to the house.

In the mid-1930s the house was painted yellow, and its shutters were of faded blue. Later, neighbors pointed out the house as the white one at the corner with dark green shutters. The presentation today is decidedly different and possibly duplicates its early coloration. The new paint—Spanish brown—is a reddish brown believed to have been a common color covering shingles on buildings in the village which served as county seat of Sussex from the mid-1600s until 1791.

The property was purchased in 1981 by the vestry of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and for several years housed the parish offices. That usage added to the structure’s history of service, in addition to that of dwelling house: inn and/or tavern, called an "ordinary" in early years, and business office for the insurance firm and other commercial endeavors of the late Cornelius C. Marshall.

Church ownership came in the wake of 145 years of title-holding by a Marshall family, initiated in 1836, when purchased by John Marshall, a pilot. Hastening back into previous ownership, records show that Marshall purchased the property from Reece W. Mariner who had acquired it from Commodore Jacob Jones of War of 1812 fame. He received the real estate from Penelope Holt Jones, his step-mother, who was a granddaughter of Ryves Holt. She died in 1790. This period of the house’s genealogy involves the namesake family.

Holt purchased the property in 1723, two years after arriving in Lewes to accept the appointment of Naval Officer of Port Lewes. Phillip Russell, an earlier owner, had been granted a "lycense" in by the Council in Philadelphia to keep an ordinary at Lewes located at the corner of Mulberry (or Knitting) Street and Second Street. Further research is required trace ownership previous to that of Mr. Russell.

Ryves Holt is the one whose name still clings to the property. Holt arrived in Lewes in 1721 at age 25 with his wife and young daughter following some years at sea trading in the West Indies and Portugal out of Philadelphia. He bought the corner property two years later, and it is believed that he and his family dwelt in the house until his death in 1763. Denoted as a lawyer, he was involved in community and state affairs and must have been highly regarded by his peers in both circles. He was elected many times to membership in the Assembly of the Three Lower Counties and served several years as its speaker. With the position of sheriff, locally, and county and state judgeships running concurrently with other appointments, he was named Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Counties in 1745 and was still serving at his death.

Holt's death took his body but a few paces from the doorstep of his home to its eternal resting place. The epitaph on his marker in the St. Peter's churchyard tells of his amiable nature and states that, in life, "his benevolent disposition endeared him to his friends."

©Copyright 1997 Hazel D. Brittingham