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Remembering "The Holly Man" of Milton; Annual Festival This Weekend

December 7, 2016

While our regularly scheduled “Weekender Blog” is essentially on hold until early Spring rolls around in coastal Delaware, there's one special holiday-themed event coming up here in the area that we thought you might like to check out.

The 27th annual Milton Holly Festival is scheduled for this Saturday, Dec. 10, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at locations throughout town. Sites include the Milton Volunteer Fire Department, Goshen Hall, the Milton Public Library and the historic Milton Theater.

Fresh plants, wreaths, holiday gifts and much more will be the order of the day, and Santa Claus is also scheduled to make an appearance.

We hope everyone takes the time to visit and enjoy this historic festival on the banks of the Broadkill River. But, do you know the origins and why Milton celebrates the holly plant every December?

In reality, the history dates back more than 100 years in coastal Delaware to a time when tiny Milton was one of the top holly producing towns in the United States.

Let’s take a little stroll down Memory Lane, shall we?

It was 1908 when a Pennsylvania fertilizer salesman named Charles Jones visited Milton to collect on a bill and, as many of these stories often go, met a young lady and decided to stay put here in the First State.

It wasn’t long later that he became officially known as “Jones, the Holly Wreath Man”and a legend was born. It was also largely because of his efforts that the American Holly was later named the official tree of Delaware in 1939.

Interestingly, before Jones came to town, many thought holly to be a rather useless plant, not really good for much besides pricking your fingers and being kind of a nuisance. But when he began selling his products to florists and department stores and making a tidy profit, the naysayers began to take notice.

At the peak of its popularity, Jones was selling his product in every state, as well as in Mexico, Canada and Japan, providing a good income for many farmers during the Great Depression.

By the late 1930s, the holly business was booming in Milton, as well as in the surrounding areas. During the first few years of his company, all materials came from the abundance of holly in Sussex County. Farmers supplied the product and Jones sold the attractive, fragrant creations all throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

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