Angola is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

adjacent to the Angola Neck peninsula in Sussex County,

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

, United States. Angola is located on an inlet of

Rehoboth Bay Rehoboth Bay is a body of water in Sussex County, Delaware. It is connected to the Broadkill River by the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal. It is part of Delaware's inland bay system, along with Little Assawoman Bay and Indian River Bay. Of Delaware ...

and is near

Delaware Route 24 Delaware Route 24 (DE 24) is a state highway located in Sussex County, Delaware, Sussex County, Delaware. The route runs from Maryland Route 348 (MD 348) at the Maryland border east of Sharptown, Maryland, east to an inters ...

. It is a population center for the

Indian River Hundred Indian River Hundred is a hundred in Sussex County, Delaware, United States. Indian River Hundred was formed in 1706 from Lewes & Rehoboth Hundred. Its primary community is now Angola on Delaware Route 24, but maritime transportation dominated d ...

Geography

Angola lies along

, where that road crosses Herring Creek. Angola is east of Hollyville and northwest of Long Neck.

History

Angola took its name from the slaves from

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

who were imported to the community ("the

First Africans in Virginia The first Africans in Virginia were a group of "twenty and odd" captive persons originally from modern-day Angola who landed at Old Point Comfort in Hampton, Virginia in late August 1619 after their 11-week journey. Their arrival is seen as a b ...

"). The nearby peninsular area has been called "Angola Neck" since the 1600s, as

Gullah The Gullah () are a subgroup of the African Americans, African American ethnic group, who predominantly live in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida within ...

s were used for plantation labor, both before and after slavery was abolished.

19th century

In 1800, Methodists in Angola began meeting at the Angola Schoolhouse. In 1838, a site on Robinsonville Road was selected, and this became Connelly's Methodist Episcopal Church, now known as Conley's United Methodist Church. In 1836, the Angola post office began operations. Circa the 1850s, a dam was built on Herring Creek, creating Burton's Millpond. There was once a

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

on this dam. In February 1876, a new church in Angola was blown off its foundations due to extreme winds. Circa 1890, Angola's population was just 12 residents.

20th century

Angola's population had grown to 18 residents by 1900. Around this time, the community was the site of the Angola

Grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * The Grange (Toronto), Toronto, Ontario, built in 1817 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to ...

, a social organization intended to promote the economic well-being of the community. By 1925, Angola's population had grown to 95 residents. In the early 20th century, the Angola Telephone Company operated a telephone exchange in the area, following a Sussex County decision allowing telephone companies to place telephone poles and lines along roadways. The community had a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

until 1937. The population was 50 in 1940. By 1955, Angola was said to consist of "a store and several houses". The store was the Burton store, an old country mercantile.

References

{{authority control African-American history of Delaware Angolan-American history Unincorporated communities in Sussex County, Delaware Unincorporated communities in Delaware Populated coastal places in Delaware