Delaware's oldest surviving house, c.1665, where the Lewes Historical Society's ghost tour says an early owner still roams after dark
218 Second Street, Lewes, DE 19958
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to enter as a visitor center and museum shop; ghost-tour tickets priced separately by the Lewes Historical Society
Access
Limited Access
Mid-17th-century house with uneven floors and no right-angle walls
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1665 · Oldest surviving house in Delaware (original section c.1665; 1680 by dendrochronology) · Early inn run by Philip Russell, recorded cupbearer to William Penn · Later owned by Ryves Holt, first Chief Justice of Sussex County · Added to First State National Historical Park in 2014
The Ryves Holt House stands at 218 Second Street in Lewes, Delaware, and is generally regarded as the oldest surviving house in the state. Its original 16-by-21-foot section has been dated to about 1665, though dendrochronology — tree-ring dating of the timbers — has produced a date closer to 1680. Either way it ranks among the oldest houses in the United States still on its original foundation.
The building served for a time as an ordinary, or early inn, run by Philip Russell, who is recorded as having been a cupbearer to William Penn. After arriving at Lewes in 1721, Ryves Holt — the first Chief Justice of Sussex County — purchased the house, and it carries his name today.
The house's age shows in its construction: there is not a plumb wall or a true 90-degree corner anywhere in it. Local tour lore points to a so-called murder hole and a staircase tied to an old story, treated by the historical society as part of the building's folklore rather than documented record.
The Lewes Historical Society owns and operates the Ryves Holt House as a visitor center and mercantile shop. On December 30, 2014, it was added to the First State National Historical Park, recognizing its place in early Delaware history.
Sources
The Ryves Holt House is one of the Lewes Historical Society's stops on its haunted-history programming. Tour accounts describe the house as "appropriately haunted" given that, as the oldest building in the state, it has no plumb wall or square corner anywhere inside.
The central claim is that the ghost of an early owner of the house is said to roam the rooms after dark. Separately, paranormal investigators working the building have reported being touched while in the basement. Tour guides also fold in older Lewes lore — a reference to a "murder hole" and a staircase said to bear on a 200-year-old mystery — as part of the storytelling.
These accounts are presented as folklore gathered for the seasonal ghost tour rather than as documented events. No specific historical person has been firmly tied to the apparition in the available sources, and the historical society treats the material as part of the house's long, layered reputation rather than as established fact.
Visit Delaware's oldest surviving house, dated to roughly 1665, now a Lewes Historical Society visitor center and mercantile shop. The house has no plumb walls or square corners and was once an early inn. It joined the First State National Historical Park in December 2014.
The Ryves Holt House appears on the Lewes Historical Society's haunted-history tour, where guides describe the building's reputation for the ghost of an early owner and account of an investigator being touched in the basement. Check the society's seasonal listings for scheduled dates.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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