South of Rt.12 (Burnite Mill Road), east of Rd. 281 (Hopkins Cemetery Road



Hopkins Cemetery as we know it today has a unique and historical background. The original approximate 50 ft. by 50 ft. burial plot is encompassed in the center of the Cemetery of today.



It all started on May 16, 1766 when Benjamin Coombe purchased 295 acres of land, a half part of a tract of land called and known as "The Cave". The original deed for a 580 tract of land was granted to John French of New Castle County, "being and lying in Kent County in Delaware, by William Penn, proprietor of Pennsylvania, on the 20th day of September Anno Domini One thousand Seven Hundred and Fifteen. "The Cave" was the plantation and the mansion located on the property was their home. In a corner on that plantation, the Coombe family established a Family Burial Ground. The first know and documented burial there was for John Coombe, son of Benjamin Coombe, who died December 3, 1796. Benjamin, the family patriarch, died 3 years later on October 8, 1799 and was buried there. Other Coombe family members are interred there and the tombstones are still standing today. The original property borders the Hopkins Cemetery of today and is still known by the name of "The Cave".



It became known as "Hopkins Farm" thought the marriage of Mary Coombe (granddaughter of Benjamin and daughter of Samuel) when she married James Hopkins in the approximate year of 1821.



On November 13, 1849, after the death of her father Samuel Coombe, Mary Coombe Hopkins inherited a 1/8th part of his land. That land later came into the possession of Mary Emily Hopkins Warner, daughter of Mary and James Hopkins and great granddaughter of Benjamin Coombe. Apparently trying to preserve that original family Burying ground, trustees were appointed and land was added to the original plot and the land was formally designated as Hopkins Cemetery for community use and also for the building of a Methodist Episcopal Church, if so desired.



In a deed dated November 18, 1926, Sarah Hall Lister, for the sum of $1.00, designated a portion of her land that bordered the Cemetery for the expansion of the Cemetery to the size it is today.



The original plot contains burials of Coombe, Hopkins and Warner. The original stones have been cleaned and some re-set as needed by the current caretaker, William Stubbs.