Editing Ellendale, Delaware (section)

===Early history===
Ellendale started as a forest and swamp on the divide between the [[Chesapeake Bay]] and [[Delaware Bay]]. The swamp was the hunting grounds of the [[Nanticoke Indian Tribe]] until they were driven out by the [[Lenape|Lenape tribe]] in the Battle Green near Chestnut Ridge, a hill on Ellendale's north side. The Lenape Trace, a main thoroughfare of a trail, passed through Ellendale as a Native American trade route from [[Pocomoke City, Maryland]] to [[Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania]]. With the arrival of Europeans, the Ellendale area was a province of fur traders and hunters. Early in the 18th century, farming and timbering pushed back the swamp that once covered the area. The tract of land on which the town would later be built was originally deeded in 1740 as "Bennett's Pleasure".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.greatersalisbury.org/userfiles/files/Ellendale.pdf |title=Ellendale Of the Forest - The 2004 Greater Ellendale Comprehensive Plan |access-date=September 3, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111055039/http://www.greatersalisbury.org/userfiles/files/Ellendale.pdf |archive-date=November 11, 2014 }}</ref>