In 1834, Joseph Cleaver built Linden Hall near the river and what was then the region's biggest port. As one of Port Penn's best-known merchants, he hoped to dominate trade between the Delaware River and the farmlands of southern New Castle County. A symbol of the Cleaver family's importance to the area, the house was fashioned as two urban townhouses. The Cleaver family lived in the northern section, with its large entrance hall, elegant staircase, and marble fireplace surrounds, while the southern portion served as Cleaver's office, dry goods store, and storehouse, and later became the town's first post office. After the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal was built around 1829 a few miles to the north, major shipping began to bypass Port Penn, though the town still provided local agricultural producers with a convenient way to export their goods. Port Penn lost more of its competitive advantage with the coming of the railroad, and today it is known as a fishing village.