The Cooch family has lived at nearby Cooch’s Bridge since 1746, when Colonel Thomas Cooch emigrated from England with his family, operated a flour mill there, took part in civic affairs, and served as a colonel in the Delaware militia before and during the Revolutionary War. He built the Cooch house in 1760, and it was later enlarged by his grandson, General William Cooch, and his great-grandson, Levi Griffith Cooch. Eight generations of the family have lived in the house and been active in agriculture, public service, milling, and the law. During the Philadelphia Campaign, Thomas Cooch and his family evacuated the house shortly after the British army landed at Head of the Elk on the Chesapeake Bay in August 1777, and after Delaware’s only Revolutionary War battle, the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge on September 3, 1777, Lord Cornwallis occupied the house. Many American soldiers who died in the battle are thought to be buried in unmarked graves on the Cooch farm. A monument dedicated on September 3, 1901, by patriotic societies and Delaware citizens stands in front of the homestead on Old Baltimore Pike beside the Christiana River bridge. Edward W. Cooch, Jr. later hosted many reenactment activities at the house, including the 2006 W3R marchers recreating the 1781 Washington-Rochambeau march to Yorktown. The newly adopted 13-star flag may have been flown for the first time during the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge, though that claim remains unproven.