Former site of Whitehall Plantation

Whitehall Plantation, once owned by the Chew family, contained over 400 acres of land and was worked solely by enslaved labor. Among those enslaved was Richard Allen who was born here and later founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church. By 1798 Benjamin Chew’s records indicate that he enslaved 42 men and women, making Whitehall the largest plantation worked by enslaved labor in Delaware and Chew the largest enslaver in the state. Unwilling to free his captives and incur a loss of profit, Chew sold Whitehall and stipulated that those enslaved be a part of the sale. George Kennard purchased Whitehall in 1803 and shortly thereafter freed the enslaved men and women.