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November 2008 |
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 The New Castle Academy |
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Restoration work is nearing completion on the New Castle Academy, an HCA-owned property located on the Green in historic New Castle. The Academy was built in 1799 to the design of Peter Crowding, a Philadelphia master builder. It served as a public school until 1930 when the New Castle High School was built. A deed of transfer by the Trustees of the Academy to the State of Delaware occurred shortly thereafter. In 1931, Immanuel Episcopal Church on the Green entered into a 99-year lease with the State of Delaware. The church uses the Academy for many church-related and community activities. | |
 Restored parlor in the New Castle Academy |
 Mabel Lloyd Ridgely's Old Dover Days dress |
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At a meeting on September 25, 2008, HCA's Collections Committee voted to accept a number of donated items that will be added to the state's collections. Examples of the donated items include a 256-piece dinner service that had previously been on loan to Buena Vista; an assortment of Victor recordings and other phonograph-related items; Mabel Lloyd Ridgely's Old Dover Days dress, gloves, and parasol; and six watercolors by Seaford artist Woody Woodruff.
The goal of HCA's collections program is to preserve, and hold in public trust, a record of Delaware's heritage by acquiring items made in Delaware or used by Delawareans throughout history. HCA's collections, which include museum objects, archaeological artifacts, library and archival materials, and oral histories, are utilized in developing exhibits and educational programs that illuminate the state's historical and cultural legacies for the benefit of present and future generations. HCA's Collections Committee is responsible for review and approval of all acquisitions to HCA's collections. The committee is comprised of HCA staff members including the Curators of Archaeology, Collections, and Collections Management; and one representative citizen from each of Delaware's three counties. |
 Delaware Day float and its mascot, Latimer, in the Dover High School Homecoming Parade on October 10, 2008. |
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The Department of State's Delaware Day float made its public debut on Saturday, October 4, 2008 during the Governor's Fall Festival which took place at Woodburn, the Governor's Mansion, in Dover. Additional October appearances include the Dover High School Homecoming parade, the Delaware State University Homecoming Parade, the Milford Community Parade, the Sea Witch Parade in Rehoboth Beach, and the Newark Halloween Parade. The float, which was created by HCA's Exhibits Team, is being used to promote Delaware Day, a celebration of the date when Delaware became the first state to ratify the United States Constitution on December 7, 1787.
Delaware Day 2008 will be celebrated on Saturday, December 6, 2008 at a variety of locations in downtown Dover including the Delaware Public Archives, Delaware Visitor Center and Galleries, The Old State House, and the Dover Green. Activities will include an awards ceremony for the Department of State's seventh annual Delaware Day Fourth Grade Competition which challenges students to create displays that help illustrate and explain the U.S. Constitution and the role played by Delawareans in the writing and ratification of the nation's founding document. Other activities will include horse-drawn carriages, music, and a wide variety of historic re-enactors including an appearance by the Fourth Continental Light Dragoons, a group that re-creates the activities of one of the actual regiments that saw service in the Continental Army under George Washington from 1777 to 1782. |
 Stanley Arthurs' "The Crusaders" being loaded for transport to the Delaware Veterans Home. |
| On October 16, 2008, HCA curators carefully transferred the Stanley Arthurs mural "The Crusaders" from its display location at the Blue Hen Corporate Center in Dover to its new exhibit site at the Delaware Veterans Home in Milford. The state-owned mural had been on display at the Blue Hen site for several years until remodeling plans for that facility necessitated its transfer to a new location.
The colossal mural, measuring 7 by 19 feet, was commissioned by the State of Delaware to commemorate Delaware's participation in World War I. It is one of three such pictures that Arthurs painted for the state. The other two, "Troops Leaving the Dover Green" and "First Day of Peace" are hanging in the Delaware Public Archives building. |
| On October 15, 2008, archaeologist David Clarke of the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) and HCA archaeologist Gwen Davis were joined by Woodland Ferry Association members and various officials to release "Woodland Ferry: Crossing the Nanticoke River from the 1740s to the present," a publication that details the rich history and intrinsic charm of the Woodland area and its ferry which has provided service across the Nanticoke River between Woodland and Bethel, Delaware since the mid 1700s. The booklet incorporates research done in advance of DelDOT's widening of the slips to accommodate a new ferryboat.
The booklet is being released in conjunction with the dedication of the new Woodland Ferry boat—the Tina Fallon—that will be christened in a ceremony on October 29, 2008. The Tina Fallon will replace the Virginia C which was taken out of service on December 31, 2007. |
| On Saturday, November 1, 2008 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the three museums of Dover's Museum Square (the Museum of Small Town Life, the Johnson Victrola Museum, and the Delaware Archaeology Museum) will present "As it is...Written," a program designed to showcase the wonders of both the written word and the printed page. Held in conjunction with both "First Saturday in the First State" (a monthly program sponsored by the First State Heritage Park at Dover) and the Delaware Book Festival, "As it is...Written" will feature fun-filled activities for the entire family including paper- and book-making, printing demonstrations, and more.
Museum Square, located at 316 South Governors Ave., between North St. and Bank Lane, in Dover, Delaware, is open from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and most state holidays; and 1:30-4:30 p.m. Sundays. Admission is free. Donations are accepted and appreciated. For additional information, call the Delaware Visitor Center at (302) 739-4266. |
 Volunteer gathering information from a participant in an earlier Quilt Documentation Day. |
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The Delaware Quilt Documentation Project will hold its final session of 2008 on Saturday, November 8, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m., at the Joseph C. O'Neal and Sons auction house, 11112 Laurel Road, Laurel, Delaware 19956. Owners of quilts made before 1945 are encouraged to bring their quilts to this informative documentation process which involves photographing each quilt, recording its physical characteristics, and gathering historical information about the quilt and/or the quilt-maker. There is no cost to quilt-owners for this process and admission is free of charge.
The Delaware Quilt Documentation Project is a collaborative effort between the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs (HCA) and the University of Delaware. Information gathered in the project will be submitted to The Quilt Index, a national data base maintained by the Alliance for American Quilts. The project is supported, in part, by grants from the National Quilting Association, the Helping Hands Quilt Guild of Dover, and gifts from private individuals. Project activities are expected to continue through 2009 with several Quilt Documentation Days to take place during that time period. Dates and locations will be announced in the near future. Once the full documentation process has been completed, a traveling exhibition of selected quilts will be displayed in each of Delaware's three counties, and a book featuring the most representative and historically important quilts will be printed. For further information, contact project-coordinator Ann Baker Horsey of the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs at (302) 739-6402. |
 Scene from the 2007 John Dickinson Plantation holiday decorative-dessert table. |
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Dover's historic John Dickinson Plantation is alive with the sights and scents of traditional seasonal fare through January 3, 2009 as part of the plantation's annual holiday decorative-dessert table. Featuring decorative recreations of foods prepared according to authentic 18th Century recipes, this year's displays will feature creations made from chocolate.
Located at 340 Kitts Hummock Road in Dover, Delaware, the plantation is the boyhood home and country estate of John Dickinson, one of the founding fathers of the United States and "Penman of the Revolution." The plantation is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.; Sunday, 1:30-4:30 p.m., except closed Sundays in January and February. It is closed Mondays and state holidays. Admission is free. Donations are accepted and appreciated. For additional information, please call (302) 739-3277. |
| In accordance with Title 7 Delaware Code, Chapter 54, the Director of the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, Department of State, hereby gives notice of the discovery of unmarked human skeletal remains. The location of these remains is at the edge of pavement within the DelDOT right-of-way adjacent to Tax Parcel 39 along River Road at Warwick Cove in Oak Orchard, Sussex County. The lower section of an early 19th-century or 18th-century grave was exposed, revealing elements of a skeleton. Historical research indicates that the family of John and Sarah Waples were the property owners of this area from the 1820s to 1860.
Any persons who have reason to believe they may be Next-of-Kin to these individuals or have evidence that they have a relative buried in this unmarked burial site should contact the Director, Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, 21 The Green, Dover, DE 19901-3611; telephone 302-736-7400 weekdays between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.; no later than November 24, 2008. |
| In accordance with Title 7 Delaware Code, Chapter 54, the Director of the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, Department of State, hereby gives notice of the discovery of unmarked human skeletal remains. The location of these remains is Gray Dawn Acres, located along Routes 434 and 429, southeast of Harrington in Kent County. Previous history notes that in the 1930s an undetermined number of family burials had been relocated from this site to an extant cemetery due to pending construction activities. It has been discovered that some elements were not relocated. Research suggests these partial remains may belong to the Burton Prettyman family, who were buried at the site in the late 19th century.
Any persons who have reason to believe they may be Next-of-Kin to these individuals or have evidence that they have relatives buried in this unmarked cemetery should contact the Director, Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, 21 The Green, Dover, DE 19901-3611; telephone 302-736-7400 weekdays between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.; no later than November 30, 2008. |