WHITE HOUSE BEACH INC.
Give Us a Call (302) 945-3032
How Long Neck Started:
"William Burton came over to America in 1643. He settled in Accomac, Virginia. He was the second son of Thomas of Langner Hall, Sharpshire, England. Here he owned 10,000 acres of land. He had married Francis Bagwell of the family of Governor Wyse of Virginia. In 1677, he received a warrant from Governor Andros, English Governor of New York, for 1000 acres called Long Neck. According to all records, this was the first settling in the Millsboro area. He was to pay 200 bushels of good spring wheat a year for this grant. He settled his eleven sons along the Indian River. He died in Accomac in 1695. William Burton moved his family from Accomac to his new location."
"In 1717, Woolsey Burton built a small early Virginia type brick home on the Indian River Bay. It's one and a half stories high, and was white washed, and that's how it got it's name "White House". Woolsey is buried here in a little walled graveyard near the west end of the house. Other grave yards contain other generations of more recent Burtons."
"For more than a century, the "White House" was owned by successive, John Burtons' and in 1887 it was the property of Mrs. John M. Houston, a daughter of John Robert Burton. In 1934, the house was gutted by fire and rebuilt within the original thick walls. As the Flemish-bond brickwork shows, there was originally two arch-head doorways on both the north and south sides. A single door'way was later cut in the middle of each of these walls. This farm home embraced 250 acres in 1887 and was one of the best known landmarks in the Indian River Hundred."
"In the 1930-1940s, Long Neck was a long way from anywhere, what with bad dirt roads and poor transportation. Most of the residents were farmers with fairly large tracts of land. In their free time they fished and trapped the shores of the Indian River."
"After World War II was over, things change. For example, Sam Houston Showell Sr. and his 3 sons saw the potential of vacationers and fishermen visiting the Long Neck area. He knew the fishing was great, but there was nowhere for the visitors to stay. So with their own hands and tools, they started building small cottages on the beach near his house. They put together 12 of these simple houses. They each had their own septic system, no electric and an oil lantern for lights. The fishermen loved them!"
"One day, someone asked Mr. Showell if they could bring their house trailer and park it at the beach. He agreed and this started the mobile home parks which exist today. He started advertising in the Pennsylvania papers. This brought in fishermen by the hundreds. At that time, Rockfish were caught right off the beach at "The White House" weighing 20 lbs. Blow fish were plentiful also. The campers didn't worry about how rustic the cabins were, they came to fish."
"Sam started digging canals so that the fishermen could have better access to the Indian River Bay. At first, they just had an oral agreement with the visitors of $100 a year, no signed leases." White House Beach was originally named White House Farm. It was incorporated in 1971.
Below are the aerial-views of our growth over the years.
Our Farm Days
