can be conjectured that the walls were laid originally in Flemish bond with glazed headers above an English bond basement. Due to the lack of original fabric, the initial kitchen situation is uncertain. It was either located in the basement or in a detached structure. Eventually a new kitchen was built on the east gable of the house. The unusual feature about the later kitchen is that it had a full basement at a period when most kitchens were built with a dirt or brick floor close to grade. From additional information in the basement it appears that the space was divided into two nearly equal spaces with chimneys at both ends. The first alteration to the building appears to be the addition of the aforementioned kitchen on the east, a 19' x 19' structure which appears in the 1783 Tax Assessment and on an overmantel painting originally painted of the house in the 1790s and now at Washington College. Simon Wilmer II acquired most of Stepney after his father's death. When the county was resurveyed in 1706, he was responsible for the laying out of Chester Town, the new county seat, which was situated on his own land. Soon after, he began to sell lots. Simon Wilmer II also continued to operate the grist mill which he had inherited from his father and near the grist mill established a saw mill. He is most likely responsible for the construction of the brick Miller's House mentioned in his will. In 1737, Simon II left specific farms to his sons William, Lambert and Charles, and lots in town to his daughters Dorcas, Mary and Margaret, but to Simon II he left "all the rest & residue of my lands, houses and improvements," i.e., Stepney. Apparently, Simon III moved to the Sassafras River on a farm now called Shorewood. Lambert, his brother, owned Stepney in 1750. Lambert bequeathed Stepney to his son Simon IV, who is recorded as owner of the farm and mill in 1783. Simon IV owned 123 acres of Tilghman and Foxley Grove and 127 acres of Stepney in that year's tax assessment. There were eight whites and two blacks living on the farms. The buildings are briefly described as "two brick dwelling houses and kitchens, one grist mill, seven out Houses, two orchards-adjoining Chestertown." Simon IV was a contributor to the founding of Washington College and holder of Pew No. 19 at the Chapel of
	ase of Chester Parish in Chestertown. His first wife was Ann Ringgold and his second, Mary Dunn. When Simon IV wrote his will in 1794, he bequeathed "the land on which I now dwell with the houses and improvements" to his son James. In 1801 James Wilmer and his wife Ann, who had moved to Queen Anne's County, sold the home place to Thomas Worrell. It is not known by the author whether Thomas Worrell's wife, Ann, was a Wilmer. If not, their seven-year ownership of Stepney would be the only break in family ownership for many years. The Rev. Simon Wilmer V purchased Stepney from Thomas Worrell in 1808, then sold it in 1818 to his youngest brother Lemuel. Lemuel sold the home as well as the lot left him by his father in 1822 to his second cousin Mary Frisby Gordon, the wife of Joseph N. Gordon (daughter of James and Ann Frisby of the Violet Farm; her great-grandfather was Simon II). Joseph Nicholson Gordon is referred to as "Dr. Gordon" in the account of the Battle of Caulk's Field. He was the Clerk of the Court between 1822-1845. In the Tax Assessment for 1841, Gordon is listed as residing at the Nicholson House on Queen Street. In that same year, he and his wife Mary sold Stepney to their son, James Frisby Gordon, who had resided there as early as 1841. In this deed Stepney is referred to as "commonly called White House." James F. Gordon and his wife Sarah Marie were responsible for constructing	Stepney. The east facade showing the results of the c. 1928 remodeling of the third floor. C. Engstrom photograph, 1977. Opposite page, a 1720 resurvey of Stepney for Simon Wilmer II, including 200 acres more than the original 1659 patent. Survey by Charles Hynson, Deputy Surveyor for Kent County. the three-story, five-bay brick structure on the east side of the old house. Its exterior was severely simple with a full length porch on its east facade. When constructed, the house had a low-pitched hip roof, with monitor in the center similar to Middle Plantation. In form it was also like Fairfield. Judging from the photograph taken around the turn of the century, the old rear wing was raised to two full stories, but built of frame. On the west end of the old building a three-bay, one-and-a-half story, frame wing was constructed, probably housing a kitchen and pantry. The interior of the new house was quite simple, with large proportions. The stairhall was nearly 12 feet wide, having a continuous railing from the carved newel post to the third floor. Its painted, tapered balusters were identical to those at Radcliffe Cross, but the latter are of natural tiger maple. When constructed, the north parlor had six windows, but two flanking the fireplace were later bricked up. James F. Gordon, like his father, had been Clerk of the Court (1851-56) for Kent County. Before selling