Parson Thorne Mansion
(Silver Hill)
This historic building lies within a 1,750
acre Duke of York land patent called Saw Mill
Range granted to Henry Bowman in 1680. The
first known resident of this portion of the
tract was Joseph Booth, who purchased 510
acres from the Bowman family in 1730. The
center brick section of the present structure
was built by John Cullen after his purchase
of 263 acres in 1746. Reverend Syndenham Thorne,
an Episcopal clergyman who was instrumental
in Milford’s development, bought the property
in the 1780s and is interred on the grounds.
John M. Clayton, United States Senator and
Secretary of State under President Zachary
Taylor, spent a portion of his boyhood here.
Members of the Clayton family lie at rest
nearby as well. This was also the home of
philanthropist Col. Benjamin Potter and Dr.
William Burton, Governor of Delaware during
the early years of the Civil War. Col. Henry
Fiddeman, founder of the First National Bank
of Milford, came into ownership of the mansion
in 1858 and changed the Colonial Georgian
architecture to Gothic Victorian. The Draper
family purchased the property in 1916. In 1961,
the building and grounds, then known as Silver Hill,
were conveyed to the Milford Historical Society
by J. Richard Draper. The Parson Thorne Mansion
was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
Marker can be reached from NW Front Street (Delaware Route 14) near Maple Avenue, on the left when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
