Just off Route 72 in Newark, a two-hundred-year-old barn holds centuries of local history and stands on the ground where the Continental Army once faced the British and Hessian advance.
The Pencader Heritage Museum, home of the Pencader Heritage Area Association, occupies an 1815 barn on the site of the 1777 Battle of Cooch’s Bridge. It sits along the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail, the path American and French forces followed during the fight for independence.
The only Revolutionary War battle fought in Delaware
On September 3, 1777, American light infantry under General William Maxwell met the advancing British and Hessian columns at Cooch’s Bridge. It was the only battle of the Revolution fought on Delaware soil, and it came just days before the much larger Battle of Brandywine in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.
The fighting was part of the British campaign to capture Philadelphia. Some traditions hold that Cooch’s Bridge was the first battle in which the Stars and Stripes were carried, a claim historians still debate.
At least two dozen Continental soldiers were killed in the engagement. They are believed to rest in unmarked graves scattered across the battlefield, where they remain today.
A museum built from local history
Inside the barn, the collection reaches far beyond a single battle. Visitors will find:
- Native American artifacts from the Lenape people of the region
- Colonial and Revolutionary War objects
- Civil War items
- Local farming tools and equipment
- Artifacts tracing the history of Newark and Pencader Hundred
Among the most remarkable pieces is an American flag connected to the Marquis de Lafayette, the French general who fought alongside Washington. Ask a museum volunteer to tell you its story.
Plan your visit
Travelers along the trail can stop in and see it all for themselves.
Pencader Heritage Museum 2029 Sunset Lake Road, Newark, Delaware (Route 72, south of Old Baltimore Pike)
Hours: First and third Saturdays, 10am to 4pm, and Wednesdays, noon to 4pm
Admission: Free
Parking: Free
Group tours are available by appointment.
