It is human nature to want to organize facts, to place things into groups or categories. In an effort to better understand plants and...

When I first visited Abbott's Mill over twenty years ago I knew next to nothing about grist mills and the milling operation seemed to me...

The River Otter (Lutra canadensis) is perhaps one of the most cosmopolitan of any North American mammal, yet it is rarely seen. It is...

The Delaware Nature Society's Spring Native Plant Sale will take place on-line on May 2nd and 3rd, with down-state pickup at Abbotts Mill...

On August 24, 1933, the great “Chesapeake-Potomac Hurricane” passed through Delmarva creating havoc. Higher than normal tides washed out...

This home-built traditional bird nesting box is suitable for many cavity nesting birds such as bluebirds, titmice, tree swallows,...

The man that operated Abbott's Mill for over four decades, Ainsworth (nmi) Abbott, was born on June 22, 1885 in Ellendale, Sussex County,...

The exterior repairs and painting of Abbotts Mill and the other historic buildings has been completed and the buildings look great. Our...

Clarence T. Workman and his mules When I was about 12 years old, Daddy decided to sell the mature pines on what had been my Grandmother...

From: “History of Delaware, 1609-1888, by J. Thomas Scharf” (The following was written in the late 1880s) The earliest and, in fact, the...

In an effort to dispel the winter doldrums, we are prone to seek any sign that spring is just around the corner. I look for the first...

The origin of Abbott’s Mill can be traced back to just after the American Revolution. In the fall of 1795 Nathan Willey, a local...

The Partridge Berry, Mitchella repens, is very common in the Tantrough and Johnson’s Branch forested areas. The plant is a small,...

If you enjoy feeding the Gray Squirrels, then that’s fine. But if you’re tired of those neighborhood “tree rats” stealing your expensive...

Who was Oliver Evans? Until the late 1700s the milling of grains into flour was a very labor-intensive process. Grist mills (mills that...

You may pass by Abbotts Mill and wonder what's going on. The Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs (owner of the historic...

Normal holly fruiting branch One of the primary tributaries supplying Blair’s Pond is the Tantrough Branch. Much of that drainage is...

In 1919, just over a hundred years ago, Ainsworth Abbott and Joseph J. Smith went into partnership and for $7000 bought an old mill that...