About Us
Established in 1937 along the coast of the Delaware Bay, Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge protects one of the largest remaining expanses of tidal salt marsh in the mid-Atlantic region. In addition to salt marsh, refuge habitats include freshwater impoundments, upland meadows and forests that are managed for migratory birds and other wildlife.
The refuge has been designated a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance and a Globally Important Bird Area.
Our History
Many people have shaped the lands and waters of the refuge: Indigenous Lenape residents, early Dutch traders and settlers, workers with the Civilian Conservation Corps, today’s residents and visitors.
The Allee House
The Allee House at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge stands today, as it did in the eighteenth century, overlooking the fields and marshes of Kent County. It is one of the most handsome and best preserved examples of an early brick farmhouse in Delaware.
According to tradition, the Allee House was built about 1753 by Abraham Allee, the son of John Allee, a Huguenot refugee from Artois, France. It features fine brickwork laid in Flemish bond with a few glazed header bricks. The interior of the house is distinguished by the handsome wood paneling of the parlor. The cornice in this room has a dentil course that is particularly well formed, and the splendid panels of the chimney breast are joined on either side by two striking recessed, arched china closets. These closets have paneled doors and graduated butterfly shelves against a barrel back with a fluted center post.
The kitchen of the Allee House was added some time after the original four rooms were built. The large brick fireplace has its original lugpole and trammel. The brick hearth laid in sand is typical of most Delaware houses in Kent and Sussex counties.
The first restoration and the furnishing of the Allee House were completed in 1966, in 1971 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as an important example of the vernacular architecture of eighteenth century Delaware. It was further restored in 2017 to secure the structure. It is not open to the public at this time.
Whitehall Plantation
Whitehall Plantation had the largest enslaved population in the State of Delaware. Records show over 60 men and women were forced to live and work here. The plantation was well located along Duck Creek to transport crops—mainly tobacco—by boat to Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The land is now a part of Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.
The Chew family, which owned Whitehall plantation, wrote and kept thousands of letters. They record details of plantation life and help provide rare insights into slavery in the late 1700s. Letters to Benjamin Chew from overseers at Whitehall Plantation show there was an ongoing rebellion of those enslaved there from 1792-1803. Protest against slavery at Whitehall took many forms, fighting back, refusing to work and pretending to be sick. When the Chew's sold Whitehall in the winter of 1802-1803, those enslaved there were freed.
Civilian Conservation Corps
During the widespread economic depression of the 1930s, A segregated, all African-American unit of the US employment program, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), worked here at Bombay Hook. Men aged 17 to 25 worked to clear swamps and build dikes to create the freshwater pools that are popular today with birds and people.
In thick humidity, dense clouds of mosquitos, and knee-deep muddy muck, 166 men labored here. Each man earned $30 a month, keeping $5 while the CCC sent the rest of the money back home to his family. All their work had a conservation focus. They constructed dikes, cleared swamps, planted trees, and built support buildings, many of which you still see and enjoy on the refuge today!
