The New Castle County Hospital (Almshouse) Cemetery/Farnhurst Potter's Field is located mostly
underneath the I-295 ramp that connects I-95 and the Delaware Memorial Bridge. There are about 100
numbered gravestones still visible in a small patch of woods just off Baylor Blvd. on the Herman M.
Holloway, Sr. Campus of the Delaware Department of Health & Social Services. The street address is
1901 N. DuPont Highway, New Castle, Delaware. Enter from Rte. 13 South just south of the main
entrance to the campus, by the old gates that say "Delaware State Hospital", or follow the signs to the
Baylor Women's Correctional Institution. The cemetery is on the left, identified by a sign and a historic
marker. There is a small parking lot. The cemetery is known by a variety of names including the New
Castle County Hospital Cemetery (on Find a Grave), the "Farnhurst Potter's Field," and "the
Cemetery in the Woods." It should not be confused with either the Delaware State Hospital Cemetery
(the "Spiral Cemetery" located across from the Springer Building at the back of the main Holloway
Campus) not either of the current New Castle County Potter's Field locations – next to the Baylor
Woman's Correctional Institution and now surrounding the "Spiral Cemetery."

The NCCH/FPF Cemetery was in use from 1889 until 1933 and served as both the cemetery for people
who died at the NCCH (Almshouse) and were not claimed by relatives and as the Potter's Field for
indigent or unidentified people from New Castle County. Many of the people buried here were old,
poor, single African American men (Almshouse residents), or babies, including late miscarriages,
stillbirths, and early infant deaths. The cemetery was integrated, with both African American and white
burials, sometimes in the same grave. Infants' bodies were often added to whatever adult burial was
happening at the time of their death.

Beginning in 2015, Katherine Dettwyler and Hal G. Brown have made concerted efforts to find out who is
buried in this cemetery. Only one "Death Book" remains from the original Almshouse records, covering
the years 1926-1933. For earlier years, Kathy has been searching through online certificates of death for
anyone from New Castle County who was buried in the cemetery. This project is ongoing, with the years
1900-1933 completed (except for 1905 and 1906, for which the Delaware Public Archives seems to have
no CODs for New Castle County). Kathy continues to work backward from 1899. So far, 2,284
individuals have been documented and entered into a database. Hal Brown continues to add memorials
to the Find a Grave listing for the cemetery, as well as newspaper clippings that might shed
light on some of the people buried here. There are about twice as many males as females, and more African
American than white (and one person from Japan); ages range from 0 (over 850 infants) to 98; for
adults, common causes of death were old age, heart disease, tuberculosis, drowning, railroad accidents,
and of course the flu in 1918; three people who were legally executed by hanging for crimes they
committed, fractured skulls from car accidents (7) and trolley accidents (5), five individuals who had
been murdered, and ten people who had committed suicide.

Work continues on maintaining the cemetery and planting native vegetation under the auspices of Dr.
Faith Kuehn, has led the effort to restore the cemetery and honor those buried within. A bench
has been added to the site, and informational displays are being planned. The 2022 Annual Conference
of Preservation Delaware included a session chaired by Dr. Kuehn, "Historic Delaware Cemeteries as
Cultural Landscapes: The Power of Place in Life and Death".