Dagsboro

Dagsboro began as a village at the site of a gristmill on Pepper Creek and was originally known as Blackfoot Town. Its present name derives from John Dagsworthy, a New Jersey native who moved to the area in the mid-18th century and was awarded a considerable portion of the Great Cypress Swamp by Maryland officials for his service in the French and Indian War. He became one of the largest landowners on the Delmarva Peninsula and prospered through the export of timber products. The surrounding hundred, the geographic subdivision in which the community lies, was named in his honor after the settlement of the boundary dispute between Maryland and Delaware in 1774. Dagsworthy served on the Sussex County Committee of Safety during the American Revolution and as a Brigadier General in the Delaware Militia. A member of Prince George's Chapel, he was buried there when he died in 1784. The community was also the birthplace of John Middleton Clayton, who lived from 1796 to 1856 and became a United States Senator and Secretary of State under President Zachary Taylor. The town of Dagsboro was formally incorporated in 1899.

Dagsboro, Delaware · United States