Delaware

Governor William H. Ross House, Seaford (38.657319, -75.618690)

Italianate Section Felling Dates: Summer 1851, Spring 1855, Winter 1855/6, Winter 1856/7

John Tennant House Felling Dates: Spring 1859

Site Master 1704-1858 (pine) RHDEx1 (t = 8.80 SRNJx2; 7.95 PA011; JBNJx1 7.79).

The Governor William H. Ross House, also known as the Ross Mansion, is an historic home located near Seaford in Sussex County, Delaware. The house was the residence of Delaware governor William H. H. Ross (1814-1887), who built his home along the railroad he helped to establish. It is a two-story, brick Italianate mansion with three main connected blocks in an "H"-shape featuring a three-story tower in the central space. A two-and-a-half-story wooden structure (long presumed to be the original residence built in the 1810s, now known as the John Tennant House) is attached to the main building.

Dendrochronological analysis has shown that the Italianate section of the building was constructed from timbers felled over a span of time stretching from the summer of 1851 through to the winter of 1856/7, while amongst the timbers used to construct the John Tennant House was one with complete sapwood that provided a felling date of the spring of 1859.

Worthington and Seiter 2024 "The Tree-Ring Dating of the Governor William H. Ross House, Seaford, Delaware." Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory 2024/12.

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