Smyrna times., 1901-03-20
First Delaware Assembly Held There.

spent much time in one of the head
quarters of the Revolutionary War
and in the lovely country round about
it too, and in the garden with its paths
of winding glades and noble trees allfull
of peaceful beauty, and ones fancy cas-
lily travels back over the bridge of time
when those gallant Sons of Delaware
gathered there.
In the parlor of Belmont Hall you
will find the old-world tire place with
the blue and white tiles of the time of
William and Mary, and during the
Revolutionary times the women proved
themselves as true to the American
cause as the men; many of the bullets
that did such execution on the battle
field were moulded there by the hands
of Delaware's fairest daughters.
Belmont During the Revolution.
The tall clock on the Ian ding of the
handsome stair case has mounted
guard there for century. The stately
cedars on either side of the front porch
were planted there by John Cloke,
Esq, upon the respective birthdays of
his two daughters and named for
them, following out an old English
custom to plant a tree when child
was born. The two antique chairs on
each side of the drawing room hearth
were passed down in the Collins fam
lily from that period when Belmont
Hall posed as one of the State Capt.
tolls, and resOunded with the shouts of
the Revolutionary patriots. In these
chairs, Caesar Rodney and Thomas
Mexican and John Cook were often
seated. Delaware had great cause to
be proud of its Revolutionary soldiers.
In less than a month after the Declara-
ton of Independence the State had
eight hundred men in the field, who
with three other regiments formed
later on, fought at Brooklyn, White
Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Brandy
wine, Germantown, Monmouth, Cam
den, Cowpens, Guilford, Ninety-six,
Eutaw and Yorktown, in fact there
was not a battle during the Revolu-
tiOn worthy of the name, except that
of Bunker Hill, in which Delaware
troops did not fight bravely and well.
One of the most interesting stories
told at Belmont Hall during those days
was about a sentinel General Collins
placed in the observatory on top of the
Mansion in 1916 to watch the British
who were in great force around and
about that part of the country. One
night the sentinel was shot by hostile
scout, the wounded man in trying to
reach the room below where he soon
expired, left stains of blood in several
places that can be seen even to this
day.
Governor John Cooks wife was a
sister of Governor Thomas Collins,
and daughter of John Cook married
John Clarke, another Governor of Del
aware.
Belmont Succeeds to Mrs. Speakman.
Belmont Hall after remaining in the
Collins family for a generation, was
sold on January 3rd, 1927, by DIR. Will
liam Collins, a son of Governor Thos.
Collins to John Cloke, Esq, a cousin
of DIR. William Collins, and a grand
son of Gov. John Cook; he resided
there until his death in 1867.
John Cloke was the father Of the
present owner, Mrs. Caroline Eliza
beth Cloke Peterson-S -Speakman, each
one of this lady's first four names link
in the history of the ladies and gentle
men who formerly lived in beautiful,
historic Belmont Hall, and there she
was born, and now lives, where all is
so full of peaceful beauty and sur
rounded by the whispering voices OF
the long ago, where song-birds build
and make music from dawn to dusk,
where wood-doves are cooling and
building in the dark greenery as the
day marches on with glittering sun.
beams fitting in and out of the
grounds around the Hall, and the
woods all green and golden, her e
boxtrees, roses, lilies and violets grow,
there yet the woodbine scatters round
its bells, and playing children
gather up as shells the fragrant trum-
pets. These beautiful grounds ar,
ever open to the public, and she al
ways throws wide open the doors o
Belmont Hall with true Delawar,
hospitality. She is worthy descend
ant of race that commands our ad
miration, and may she live long In thi
charming home, in the heart of on,
little Delaware.
JAMES B. CANDY.
March 1901.