When Rockford Tower in Wilmington was lit up for the holidays last year, it was the first time it ever had been and it delighted fans of the Wilmington park. This year, the moment the lights go on will be celebrated at the end of a Happy Hour at the Tower kickoff Nov. 4 that wil include food trucks, drinks …
Lying politicians, disinformation, foreign threats, riots in the street, deadly epidemics, sex scandals in high places, open debates about the president’s competence, war threats, government censorship, fights on the floor of Congress, and a society split in half by partisan politics. Sound famliar? That was politics in the United States in the 1790s, says John Sweeney, editor of “Delaware’s John …
The discovery came via a telephone call. On the other end of the call, an antiques collector told Deborah Buckson, executive director of the Historic Odessa Foundation, that he’d just bought at auction a chest that had a label on the back that said Corbit-Sharp House. That’s one of the foundation’s core historic home from Delaware’s Colonial days. “Do …
The Kalmar Nyckel Foundation newest exhibit focuses on Delaware’s tall ship in the 1652 battle in which it sank. The exhibit includes a newly commissioned oil painting by well-respected Baltimore artist Patrick O’Brien that is hung at head level on a second-floor wall in the Copeland Maritime Center, along with information about the battle between the Dutch and the English. …
A new history trail at Iron Hill Museum documents the existence and lives of free Black families who began settling there in the 1930s. No one knows if any of those who lived there had been slaves, although it’s certainly possible, historians said after the trail’s ribbon cutting on a gloriously sunny afternoon. The families included the Congos, Websters, Earls, …
A border marker buried under a manhole, a fiberglass presidential candidate and lots and lots of lima beans are some of the “weird, wonderful and obscure” elements that define Delaware in a new book. “Secret Delaware” is the second book written together by Rachel Kipp and Dan Shortridge, a married couple who have lived or worked in all three counties. …
The Hale Brynes House this weekend will unveil a painting featuring an American sycamore tree under which George Washington once held a council of war with the Marquis de Lafayette. The Newark nonprofit commissioned the painting because the 300-plus-year-old witness tree — called that because it was alive during a historical moment — may soon die or be removed. …
More than a year after Hagley Museum’s splashy new “Nation of Invent0rs” exhibit was expected to open, it swung the doors wide Saturday. The showcase, built around the museum’s huge collection of patent models, traces the history of American ingenuity since Colonial days, looking at the contributions of industry, entrepreneurs, immigrants and women. While the museum is hailing the …
The 1777 Battle of Cooch’s Bridge was the only one fought on Delaware soil and the first time that the Stars and Stripes were flown in battle. With such a storied history, you might be surprised to learn you could have a say in the site’s future. Well, you do. The Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs will hold three …
Sharpshooter Annie Oakley is headed to Historic New Castle as part of Delaware’s annual Chautauqua tent show, which for the first time will offer a full slate of live performances upstate in addition to the traditional Lewes site. But don’t expect Annie to shoot up either place. “Oh, no,” says Kim Hanley of the American Historical Theatre in Philadelphia. …
