In the early part of the 18th century, Thomas Ogle relocated his family to a spot that now sits between Newark and New Castle. Over time, as Ogle’s family spread their roots, the village of Ogletown slowly crept up around their home. By the middle of the 20th century though, the encroaching suburban sprawl from northern Delaware had encompassed the village in strip malls and urban development. By 1987, when the village had been mostly forgotten, the state wanted to expand the highway and place an interchange where the village had been originally situated. Archeologists examining the area prior to the construction happened upon Ogle’s grave site, a slab of stone covering his remains since 1771. Since the bypass had to be built, the crew moved Ogle’s remains to the median inside the northwest part of the cloverleaf. They did not erect a historical marker, only a raised brick tomb and a copy of the original stone with the epitaph:
“Glass is run, Work is done
Dead I lie under Ground
Entombed in Clay until the Day
I hear the trumpet sound.”
See Grave of Thomas Ogle, Atlas Obscura, 2018.
