Zion Methodist Church burns near Milton in 1943
Just an hour before weekly Sunday service Oct. 10, 1943, Zion Methodist Church two miles east of Milton caught fire due to a defective heater. According to the Oct. 11 edition of the Morning News, there was no one in the one-story frame building that was built in 1874. The fire was noticed by a motorist driving by who saw smoke coming from the building. “Fanned by high winds, the flames spread rapidly, and the structure was doomed when firemen from Milton, Lewes, Ellendale and Georgetown arrived,” the newspaper account reads. “They confined their efforts to preventing the blaze from spreading to nearby woods.” By December, work had begun to replace the church. Nearly two years to the day after the fire, the brick church was completed. The church still stands today along Route 16 at the corner of the aptly named Zion Church Road near Delmarva Christian’s Milton Campus. A historic marker was erected in front of the church in 2003.
Nick Roth is the news editor. He has been with the Cape Gazette since 2012, previously covering town beats in Milton and Lewes. In addition to serving on the editorial board and building pages, Nick is responsible for the weekly Delaware History in Photographs feature and enjoys writing stories about the Cape Region’s history. Prior to the Cape Gazette, Nick worked for the Delmarva Media Group, including the Delaware Wave, Delaware Coast Press and Salisbury Daily Times. He also contributed to The News Journal. Originally from Boyertown, Pa., Nick attended Shippensburg University in central Pennsylvania, graduating in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He’s won several MDDC awards during his career for both writing and photography. In his free time, he enjoys golfing, going to the beach with his family and cheering for Philadelphia sports teams.
