House & Garden 
is paneled from floor to ceiling with great 
slabs of hard wood. 
One of the most interesting historic home¬ 
steads of the Peninsula is “ Belmont Hall ” 
near Smyrna, Delaware, now owned by Mrs. 
Caroline Elizabeth Cloak Peterson-Speak- 
man. “ Belmont ” stands on a part of a tract 
originally granted to Henry Pearman by Wil¬ 
liam Penn, in 1684, soon after Penn came into 
possession of the “Three Counties on Dela¬ 
ware.” The housewasbuiltofbricksimported 
from England. Thomas Collins, “ President” 
ofDelaware,bought“BelmontHall” in 1773, 
and enlarged it to its present size. Here it 
was that the first Assembly of Delaware met 
after the opening of the Revolutionary War. 
In the parlor of “ Belmont Hall” is an old 
fireplace with blue and white tiles of the time 
of William and Mary; and here the ladies of 
the household moulded bullets for the patriot 
soldiers of the Revolution. Visitors are still 
taken to see the stains made by the blood of 
a sentinel placed on the observatory of the 
house in 1776 to watch the movements of the 
British, and shot by a hostile scout. 
“ Belmont Hall ” is a three story structure 
with a hip roof, and a great front veranda. 
The walls are pierced with an unusual num¬ 
ber of windows. The stairways are broad 
and easy and the rooms many and spacious. 
It is fitly furnished with beautiful mahogany, 
some of which is nearly as old as the house 
itself. The house stands amid extensive 
grounds, beautified with box and great trees, 
ornamental shrubs and delicious arbors. A 
long shaded avenue leads to the grounds 
immediately in front of the house, and a 
quaint wooden gate admits to the garden. 
Shady rustic seats are scattered about the 
garden, and the whole effect of the grounds 
is park-like and delightful. The house is a 
living example to show how well our ancestors 
built, and how sound were their notions of 
comfort and beauty. 
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