Home Remodeling in Port Penn, DE
Remodeling for the old river houses of Port Penn, Delaware, with the care a small historic village asks for.
Port Penn's name is credited to a visit William Penn made to the area in 1682, but the village itself was founded in the 1760s by Dr. David Stewart, who laid it out in a grid. A protected deep-water harbor and the peach and grain trade made it prosperous, and it drew the British navy during the Revolution and the War of 1812. It supported a customs house, churches, a school and a cannery. Then the canal and the expansion of the Delaware Railroad in the mid-1800s pulled commerce elsewhere, leaving, in the words of the state's historical marker, a well-preserved Delaware River village.
The Port Penn Historic District was added to the National Register on November 20, 1978. It covers 71 acres, the original eight-block plan and a one-block 19th-century extension, with 48 contributing buildings and 5 contributing sites. The oldest is Dr. Stewart's own house, dated to 1755; others include the Jackson House of about 1810, the Joseph Cleaver House of about 1835 and Linden Hall from the late 1840s. A restored schoolhouse now holds the Port Penn Interpretive Center. Dawson's serves the village from Middletown, about ten miles away.
Who reviews what
Port Penn has no town government, so New Castle County's Department of Land Use issues the permits and does the inspections. The county adds historic design review to a permit only inside its own historic overlay zoning districts, and Port Penn was not one of the 42 on the list the county published in 2016, so check the current zoning map before planning exterior work. On a lot this close to the Delaware River, the flood maps belong in that same first conversation.
Inside a river-village house
Most houses on the grid date from the late 18th and 19th centuries, with small rooms, plaster walls and floors that have settled. Kitchens and baths were added over the years in back wings, and that is where new work belongs: a kitchen rebuilt in the wing with cabinets fitted to the room as it is, a bathroom with new framing under the floor and a fan, and wiring brought up to date without cutting into the plaster of the front rooms more than necessary. Where an old wing is too far gone to save, rebuilding it on the same footprint keeps the outline of the house intact.
Exterior work on a small street
In a village of forty-eight historic buildings, every house is part of the view. Replacement windows follow the size and muntin pattern of the originals, wood siding is repaired before it is replaced, and porches and cornices are rebuilt to their original profile. A rear addition or a deck goes where the street cannot see it. Painted trim, cornices and porch columns need a steady cycle of scraping and painting, and a remodel is a good time to catch up on it.
Dawson's serves Port Penn for kitchens, bathrooms, basements, additions, windows, siding, decks and carpentry.
Nearby, Dawson's also serves Delaware City, St. Georges, Odessa and Middletown.
Port Penn is part of the New Castle County, DE service area.
Ready to plan a remodel in Port Penn?
Call Dom with the address and the project, or send the details through the form. The walkthrough is free and the estimate comes in writing.