Maull House

The Maull House

by Hazel D. Brittingham

Quaint with a capital "Q" describes the Maull House, one of the many small wonders that dot Lewes, the historic Sussex County, Delaware, town. Resting on the very spot where it was built in the 1730s, about mid-way of Pilotown Road, this specimen of early domestic architecture faces the future with pride.

Any aged building in Lewes that has survived the years while avoiding the moving contractor warrants the rating of Noteworthy. An ambitious project of the Col. David Hall Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), launched during a period of leasehold prior to purchase in 1963, has resulted in the restored and preserved state of the gambrel-roofed dwelling house—one of Lewes's oldest.

Built in a section of Lewes known as Pilot Town and in its position facing the ribbon of water years ago called Lewes Creek, now the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal, the house served the maritime activities and interests of its various owners. It was built by a carpenter named Samuel Paynter, but was soon after inhabited and owned by members of the pioneering Maull family—patriots, pilots, shipbuilders, and farmers. From its creek-front perch, the early inhabitant had a full view of the Delaware Bay and the Cape Henlopen Lighthouse.

As DAR plans were implemented, attention to detail was paid by skillful craftsmen as they urged the little house to reveal its secrets. By degrees it was possible to determine the structure's original features and to appreciate its construction. After work began in earnest, the house soon regained its original shape and style. The integrity of interior restoration demanded millwork to duplicate rotted moldings and the securing of a stock of old floor boards to replace those wide-width boards then beyond repair.

Considered a sizable house for its period, measuring approximately 30 by 16 feet, the plan is called "hall and chamber." The hall is that area used for cooking and living, and the chamber is the master bedroom on the first floor. The paneled north wall of the hall, or family room, is the chief interior feature, boasting an enormous fireplace with its fireback laid with bricks in a herringbone pattern.The two upstairs bedrooms, reached by ascending the twisting stairway which hugs the chimney, are nearly as large as those below. Furnishing of the abode is in period antiques given to the DAR expressly for that purpose.

A local legend with a romantic touch has moved into the house as a permanent tenant. It was here that Jerome Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, and his bride Betsy, found refuge on a stormy night in 1803 when their ship had put into Lewes harbor for repairs. Betsy, of the wealthy Patterson family of Baltimore, is remembered locally for refusing to be seated at a bounteous roast goose dinner until her silver candlesticks had been brought from the disabled ship.

The Maull House, on the National Register of Historic Places, is enhanced by plantings authentic to the Colonial period. Used by the local chapter of the DAR and open to the public upon occasion, usually in conjunction with festivities in the town, the house is a tribute to women who gave the project priority not only in their association affiliation, but in their lives.