$249,361Average Value$252Average Price per Sq Ft4Homes For Sale
A Victorian-era neighborhood at the heart of Salisbury
When a fire burnt down most of Salisbury in 1860, owners of the Poplar Hill Plantation subdivided their land, building the town’s first new neighborhood: Newtown-North Division. Over the next few decades, bankers, lumber tycoons and politicians purchased these Victorian-era mansions. Today, the plantation’s Federal-style house is a museum, and several of the neighborhood’s original properties still stand, cementing it as Salisbury’s first-ever historic district. “People are obsessed with these houses. It’s almost like a cult,” says Talane Hastings, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Realty, who has sold several homes in the area. “Owners have put so much effort into preserving them.” With these historic homes comes a close-knit community. “Everybody knows everybody because most of us have lived here for several decades,” says Lisa Gingrich, the president of the Newtown Neighborhood Association. “I walk with my dogs around the neighborhood, and sometimes it takes me 45 minutes to go four blocks because I'm stopping and talking to everyone.” Locals can also walk to century-old churches and Salisbury’s downtown, where seafood restaurants and cozy bars fill Italianate-style storefronts.
Residents are proud of the history preserved in the Newtown-North Division neighborhood.
Newtown-North Division is bordered by Route 50, making travel around Salisbury easy.
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Well-preserved, century-old homes in Newtown-North Division
Houses built between the mid-1800s and 1920s dot Newtown-North Division’s sidewalk-lined streets. Pastel-painted Queen Annes with gingerbread trim and wraparound porches often sit on 6,000-square-foot lots. White oak and magnolia trees shade Colonial Revivals, typically made with red-brick or clapboard facades. Homes can have three to five bedrooms and driveways, though street parking is still common. As they’re over a century old, most houses need renovations, which Salisbury Mayor Randy Taylor has invested in. “He’s owned and restored four houses here. The preservation of this neighborhood is something he talked about during his campaign,” says Wirt Wolfe, who has lived in the neighborhood since the 1970s. Wolf also renovated around 20 properties in the neighborhood before retiring. “Some houses still have slate roofs, iron pipes and leaded stained-glass windows. It can be difficult to find someone that knows how to fix those things properly,” he adds. “I had to hire people that lived hours outside of town to work on a few of my properties.” The Salisbury Historic Commission must approve any exterior renovations. Buying here typically costs between $230,000 and $425,000, a range similar to a Salisbury home’s average $250,000 selling price.
Queen Anne style homes tower over the streets of Newtown-North Division.
Colonial Revival homes in Newtown-North Division have tons of space for families to grow.
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Newtown-North Division has a neighborhood association and a haunted museum
On Broad Street, the Gothic Revival-style Chipman Cultural Center was originally built as a Methodist church for formerly enslaved people in 1837, making it the oldest Black church on the Delmarva Peninsula. In 1963, public school teachers Charles and Jeanette Chipman restored the church, turning it into a small museum about the region’s Black culture. It also hosts monthly meetings for the Newtown Neighborhood Association, which Gingrich says isn’t a typical HOA. “We don’t care what color you paint your house or what your lawn looks like,” Gingrich says. “Our funds are purely donation-based. It’s just a bunch of volunteers who want to take care of our historic neighborhood and make it a fun place to live.” The group maintains pocket green spaces, including the water fountain and stone benches at Robins Nest Park on Gay Street. They also organize community celebrations, like Oktoberfest, where neighbors gather on East Williams Street for beer, bratwursts and a bonfire. But Gingrich says their biggest event is the Holiday Home Tour, held in December every three years. “It’s open to the public, and we had around 500 people come to our last one in 2022.” Visitors drink hot chocolate while they walk between houses decorated with flickering candles in windows and pine wreaths on front doors. “The whole neighborhood looks like something out of a Dickens novel,” Gingrich adds. Some residents offer interior tours of their homes, and carolers perform inside Poplar Hill Mansion.
The Popular Hill Mansion offers year-round tours of its preserved interior, filled with original crown molding and early 19th-century furniture. Several paranormal investigations have been conducted in the house, as visitors claim to see a man holding a medical bag and little girls running up and down the hallways. The ghosts are thought to be John Huston, Salisbury’s first doctor and one of the mansion’s earliest owners, and his daughters, Sally and Elizabeth. According to Hastings, spirit sightings are a common occurrence in the area. “Just about everyone I know in Newtown-North Division has said their house is haunted. It’s the oldest neighborhood in an old town. There’s bound to be some ghosts lurking around.”
Enjoy a suburban feeling neighborhood just outside of downtown in Newtown-North Division.
Poplar Hill Mansion in Newtown-North Division preserves the local architecture of Salisbury.
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Locals walk around Parsons Cemetery and drive to Ocean City Beach
Behind the cultural center is the Jeanette P. Chipman Boundless Park. “All the moms in the neighborhood pack up their strollers and walk their kids to the park on Saturday mornings,” says Aubrey Campbell, a Realtor with Keller Williams Realty Delmarva. Kids glide down twisty slides, climb up plastic rock walls and teeter on the seesaws while parents sit under the wooden gazebo. Strawberry and tomato vines climb trellises in the Boundless Garden, where locals can pick their own produce. According to Wolfe, the 18-acre Parsons Cemetery on North Division Street is another popular recreation spot. “Everybody walks their dogs at the cemetery in the morning,” he says. “It's probably creepy to most people, but that’s just what we do.” Asphalt paths weave past moss-covered headstones dating back to the early 1800s and loop around Johnson Pond, covered in private wooden docks.
About 4 miles west of the neighborhood, cornstalks mark the entryway of Pemberton Historical Park, a former tobacco plantation turned public green space on the Wicomico River. As hikers trek the 4 miles of forested trails, pinecones crunch underfoot, and water ripples when spotted turtles jump off driftwood into the river. Salisbury City Park is another riverside green space less than 2 miles east of the neighborhood. Playgrounds and disc golf holes surround the gravel walking trail along the river. Spider monkeys, yellow anacondas and 100 other animals live in naturalistic cages at the park’s Salisbury Zoo. Campbell says driving 30 miles east to Ocean City Beach is also common. “If you own a second house out there, you’re going every weekend during the summer,” she says. “But if we’re renting a house for the week, we all go after Labor Day because that’s when kids are back in school, and the tourists are gone.”
Newtown-North Division has wide sidewalks and cross walks, making it great for a stroll.
A fisherman tries his luck catching snakehead in the Wicomico River at Salisbury City Park.
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North Salisbury Elementary is within walking distance
Children attend North Salisbury Elementary School, which has an A-minus grade from Niche and is just north of the neighborhood on Emerson Avenue. “You’ll see a few kids walking to the elementary school because it’s so close, but they have to take the bus to the middle school and high school,” Campbell says. Students may continue to B-minus-rated Salisbury Middle School and B-rated Wicomico High School. The high school has a dual enrollment program with Salisbury University, offering Early College Pathways in business, elementary education and nursing.
North Salisbury Elementary School has 505 students in grades 3-5.
Wicomico High School in Downtown Salisbury scores an overall B rating from Niche.com.
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Drinks and dinner in downtown Salisbury, churches in the neighborhood
A less than mile-long walk south of the neighborhood puts locals in downtown Salisbury, which Hastings says is a dining hub. “I lived in Manhattan for years, so I’m really picky when it comes to food, and I’m used to the best restaurants,” she says. “But downtown Salisbury’s restaurants are no joke. Every single one is good.” Instrumental jazz music plays in the background at Mogan’s Oyster House. Raw seafood sits on ice before the chef grills it with flavors like garlic or umami, and bartenders climb a ladder to reach wine bottles stocking ceiling-high shelves. Black and white photos of early Salisbury fill the bar in The Brick Room, known for regular open mic nights in its gas lamp-lit lounge. Patrons can also enjoy hand-crafted cocktails and charcuterie boards in the alleyway seating section. The closest grocery store is ACME, about a mile and a half south of the neighborhood, and The Centre at Salisbury, 3 miles north, has stores like Dick’s Sporting Goods, Burlington and HomeGoods. Newtown-North Division has several longstanding churches, including Bethesda United Methodist Church, which has been in its limestone, Gothic Revival-style building since 1921. The Romanesque Revival-style Wicomico Presbyterian Church was built in 1859, pre-dating the neighborhood’s establishment. While many churches here have bell towers, Gingrich says they don’t ring often. “We used to hear bells once every 15 minutes,” she says. “Now, we’re lucky to hear them on any day besides Sunday. Too many people complained about the noise, so the churches turned them off.”
Downtown Salisbury is just a short walk from Newtown-North Division.
Beautiful church towers line Division Street as you enter Newtown-North Division.
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Higher education, health care and a commercial shipyard
“Doctors and professors have been buying in the neighborhood for years because SU [Salisbury University] and the hospital [TidalHealth Peninsula Regional] are both close enough for them to ride their bikes to work,” Hastings says. Bumblebees buzz around pollinator gardens and pine trees on SU’s 200-acre campus, about 2 miles south of the neighborhood. “People will go there in the afternoon once classes are out just to walk around,” Hastings adds. TidalHealth Peninsula Regional has an emergency room, an oncology department and a heart institute in its concrete and glass buildings a mile south of the neighborhood. The hospital is one of Wicomico County’s largest employers, providing nearly 3,000 jobs.
Newtown-North Division is also home to a few industrial and healthcare facilities. On the neighborhood’s western border, cranes tower over Johnson Pond as they construct tugboats, riverboats and other commercial vessels in the Chesapeake Shipbuilding shipyard. The Delmarva Central Railroad runs through the neighborhood, occasionally whistling and stopping traffic at intersecting roads. Hudson Behavioral Health manages five residential withdrawal treatment facilities in Newtown-North Division, though Gingrich says they rarely affect the neighborhood. “If the houses ever get loud or a patient causes any sort of disturbance, I just call the live-in house manager or talk to someone at Hudson Health and the situation is resolved immediately.” The John B. Parsons Assisted Living Community also has a few apartment complexes off Lemmon Hill Lane.
Salisbury University brings in over 7000 students to the Westside area each year.
Newtown-North Division is bordered by Salisbury Brick and the Salisbury Shipyard.
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Easy access to U.S. Route 13 and U.S. Route 50
Though Newtown-North Division is walkable, it's also convenient for drivers. “My family will drive to and from places like Philly, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., in one day. That accessibility to so many big cities is one of the best things about Salisbury,” Campbell says. U.S. Route 13 spans the neighborhood’s eastern border, making Philadelphia a 140-mile drive north. Baltimore and D.C. are about a 115-mile drive east on U.S. Route 50 on the neighborhood’s southern edge. There are no bus stops in the neighborhood. The Salisbury Regional Airport offers daily flights with American Airlines, 6 miles east of the neighborhood.
Just north of Newtown-North Division on Route 13 are tons of shopping options.
The Centre at Salisbury has both a shopping mall and big box stores near Newtown-North Division.
GreatSchools:
The GreatSchools Rating helps parents compare schools within a state based on a variety of school quality indicators and provides a helpful picture of how effectively each school serves all of its students. Ratings are on a scale of 1 (below average) to 10 (above average) and can include test scores, college readiness, academic progress, advanced courses, equity, discipline and attendance data. We also advise parents to visit schools, consider other information on school performance and programs, and consider family needs as part of the school selection process.
View GreatSchools Rating Methodology
Interested in learning more about homes in this area?
Reach out to
Donna Harrington,
an experienced agent in this neighborhood.
Parks in this Area
Salisbury City Park
Bike Trails
Dog Park
Grills
Jeanette P. Chipman Boundless Playground
Picnic Area
Playground
Parking Lot
Transit
Airport
Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional
16 min drive
Bus
Friendly Food Store
Bus
E. S. Adkins Business Center
Bus
Union Ave. & Business Rt. 13 S.
Crime and Safety
1 - Low Crime, 10 - High Crime
Newtown-North Division
US
Homicide
7
4
Sexual Assault
5
4
Assault with Weapon
7
4
Robbery
7
4
Burglary
7
4
Motor Vehicle Theft
7
4
Larceny
6
4
Crime Score
6
4
Source: WhatIsMyCrimeRisk.com
Newtown-North Division Demographics and Home Trends
On average, homes in Newtown-North Division, Salisbury sell after 71 days on the market compared to the national average of 70 days. The median sale price for homes in Newtown-North Division, Salisbury over the last 12 months is $280,000, down 40% from the median home sale price over the previous 12 months.
Price improvement plus there is a double lot included in the sale!! Wow! -This is a TRUE 5 BEDROOM & 3 Full Bathrooms Cape Cod. New flooring on first floor and fresh painting updates throughout! Split bedroom plan with 1st floor bedroom and full bathroom and remaining bedrooms upstairs. Open great room and kitchen on the first floor, with a separate dining room and living room, as well as a
New low price PLUS $5,000 to help with closing costs! Fall in love with this beautiful home in the heart of Salisbury. Updated in 2017, including a new roof,you will enjoy a renovated home with the charm of one built in 1905. The airy front porch leads youinto the foyer where you will find one-year-old luxury vinyl plank floors and a lovely staircase. To theleft is a roomy living room which leads
This historic home has room to roam! 6+ bedrooms and 3 bathrooms home in Salisbury’s Newtown community. Situated on a double lot, this Victorian style home has a great front porch, an extra-large living room complete with pocket doors, custom-style mantle, a pellet stove, as well as a formal dining room with fancy wooden archways and a built-in hutch. The oversized eat-in kitchen offers a ton of
There is just something about an old historic building that has been made ALL NEW on this inside. Welcome home to this gorgeous 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment on the 2nd floor that was just completely remodeled a year ago. Some of the renovations included; entire unit freshly painted, all new flooring (both LVP and carpet), brand new kitchen, bath room and bedrooms. Walking into your private
Interested in learning more about homes in this area?
Reach out to
Donna Harrington,
an experienced agent in this neighborhood.
Average Home Value
Source: Public Records
Property Mix - Square Feet
This Neighborhood Has More Renters
Demographics
Total Population
1,515
Median Age
39
Population under 18
23.4%
On par with the national average
23.8%
Population over 65
15.2%
On par with the national average
19.1%
Finances
Median Household Income
$57,357
Significantly below the national average
$71,702
Average Household Income
$81,971
Education and Workforce
High School Graduates
88.7%
College Graduates
38.9%
On par with the national average
34.1%
Advanced Degrees
16.5%
On par with the national average
13.3%
% Population in Labor Force
63.7%
Area Factors
Bikeable
Bike Score®
50/ 100
Somewhat Walkable
Walk Score®
59/ 100
Minimal Transit
Transit Score®
23/ 100
Source: Walk Score
Source: Walk Score
Sound Score® measures the noise level of any address. Transit Score® measures access to public transit. Bike Score® measures the bikeability of any address.
Disclaimer: Certain information contained herein is derived from information provided by parties other than Homes.com. Our sources include: Accuweather, Public Records and Neustar. All information provided is deemed reliable, but is not guaranteed to be accurate and should be independently verified.
