Delaware is full of kind-hearted people who go out of their way to make life better for others. I see this again and again down here in Sussex County, where volunteer organizations do wonderful things to help aging seniors stay in their homes https://villagevolunteer.org/, provide goods and services to folks in need https://www.goodwillde.org/mission-vision-value/, and collaborate with concerned citizens to strengthen our communities https://www.sussexpreservationcoalition.org/.
Even so, I’ve come across a gesture of generosity that hits especially close to home. As I’ve mentioned before, I love our state’s vast parks and natural settings and am happy we live and work near Cape Henlopen State Park to the east and the Great Marsh to the west. As a REALTOR® I know how wildlife habitats and open space improve the quality of life in our communities and property values as well. So count me thrilled and amazed with an initiative that will save 30 acres of trees and wetlands right in the middle of our historic town of Lewes!
Known as The Fourth Street Forest, the land is a lovely natural spot that elegantly divides Lewes’ historic town center and the very popular modern neighborhood of Pilottown Village. It dates back to the 1600s and was actually the town’s first deeded parcel and owned first by a Swede named Helms Wiltbanck, who first cleared the land of trees so he could create a farm and homestead. After staying in his family for five generations it was owned by a series of businesspeople who farmed it (or made it available for farming) before a woman named Isabel Jacob, a principle in a real estate company, decided to let it grow back to its natural forested state.
In 1956 an enterprising and popular young businessman named John Rollins purchased the 30 acres because he was drawn to its tall trees and abundant wildlife. Over the next several decades John and his extended Rollins family prospered mightily with ventures into auto services and sales, radio and advertising, pest control, real estate and other businesses.
As their wealth flourished John and his third wife Michele became politically powerful jet-setters who hobnobbed with a circle that included Duke Ellington, President Richard Nixon, Texas Governor John Connelly, Billy Graham and Johnny and June Cash. As a couple they invested in the Rose Hill Plantation in Jamaica, surrounded by 7,000 acres stretching from the beach to the mountains and restored it to become a grand resort along with other hotels and a golf course that brought significant international tourism to Jamaica.
And yet, they never really left Lewes.
John had bought a house, known as Tradewinds, on Lewes Beach with his first wife Kitty in the 1950s. John and Michele vacationed at the home among extended family virtually every summer until John passed away in 2000. Other Rollins family members also continued to cherish the natural spot in downtown Lewes and maintain it as a forest, and turned down many offers to buy it. In 2022, Margaret Rollins purchased the property from Rollins, Inc., a public company, for $11.4 million and placed it in a Trust with a discounted sale price of $8 million. She then set up a partnership with the Greater Lewes Foundation to raise the money to buy it so it could become a permanent natural spot in Lewes.
And here’s what’s really amazing. Thanks to the generosity of more than 1,200 residents and business owners, the Longwood Foundation, Welfare Foundation, Open Space Council and the City of Lewes, more than $6 million has been raised.
While the Greater Lewes Foundation is confident the fundraising effort will reach the goal, its executive director Mike Rawl is especially pleased with what the land will become: a wonderful public resource with walking trails through a shady forest and around restored wetlands, with more than 700 native species of wildlife. All year, naturalists from the University of Delaware will maintain the forest as a place of learning for local schoolchildren and a sanctuary for folks who cherish the outdoors and, in Mike’s words: “a doorway to the town’s past where everyone can walk among tall trees in the living, beating heart of Lewes.”
So congrats to my friends and neighbors and to the Rollins family and the Greater Lewes Foundation for protecting this wonderful place.