The entrance of the Marquis de Lafayette at the Amstel House Garden Sunday evening. Many guests and dignitaries were there to welcome him back to New Castle on the 200th anniversary of his first visit to our city!
The New Castle Historical Society, the DAR and numerous guests welcomed back the Marquis de Lafayette to the Amstel House Sunday evening. Sunday marked the 200th anniversary of Lafayettes original visit to New Castle when he attended the wedding of Dorcas VanDyke and Charles DuPont.
The Magical Mystery group- Beatles revisited!
There’s a good sized crowd for tonight’s concert in Battery Park. The view is not bad either!
New Castle’s Art on the Town tonight until 8 PM. Things are hopping!
What appeared to be a record crowd showed up to kick off Separation Day. It was perfect weather, great food trucks and a good band. A perfect start to what will be a fun and successful Separation Day 2024!
We had a great photo walkabout Satirdau in Historic New Castle, including a home tour, hidden paths, a cemetery or two, and the Kalmar Nyckel from a back yard. Stay tuned for the next photo tour date! These tours are a work in progress, so all suggestions welcome!
#history
#photography
#photographychallenge
#architecture
#architecturelovers
#historicnewcastle
So what are we celebrating on June 7th and 8th in Historic New Castle?
A brief history lesson:
There was no colony called Delaware in 1704. We were the lower part of Pennsylvania with two separate two colonial assemblies, one for the “Upper Counties,” and one for the “Lower Counties on the Delaware” of New Castle, Kent and Sussex.
The Lower Counties were represented by Thomas McKean, Caesar Rodney and George Read in the First and Second Continental Congresses of 1774 and 1775. McKean and Rodney adamantly supported separation from both Pennsylvania and Great Britain. George Read took a more cautious approach as he feared that Delaware was not ready for a war with Great Britain.
On the eve of the vote in Congress on American independence, McKean sent an urgent letter to Rodney that night summoning him to Philadelphia immediately to break the tie. Rodney got on his horse and rode for eighteen straight hours and over eighty miles through thunder and rain to get to Philadelphia before the vote, a ride that usually took two days. He stopped only to change horses.
As if straight out of a Hollywood movie, it is said that the other Congressional delegates heard the hoofbeats on the cobblestones outside the convention hall, and in came Caesar Rodney, near exhaustion, covered in mud, with spurs still attached, to break his state’s tie to vote in favor of independence. “Tho detained by thunder and rain,” Rodney arrived in Philadelphia on July 2, 1776, just in time to cast his vote for independence.
This inspired Read to change his mind, and all three Delawareans joined the other delegates in signing the Declaration of Independence.
Delaware was born!
Separation Day 2024, Friday June 7-June 8. For event details and a schedule, go to: Separation Day Festival - In Historic New Castle Delaware (separationdayde.com)
A Day in Old New Castle kicks off to the sound of a bagpiper. Don’t miss the fun! Antique fire trucks, food, music and more!
Tickets are selling fast for one of the country’s oldest and most unique home and garden tour. Don’t miss out on A Day in Old New Castle’s 99th year and a chance to visit lovely historic homes and immaculate gardens! Saturday May 18th from 10 AM-5 PM. To purchase tickets, go to: www.historicnewcastle.com
Make sure it's on your calendar! This year's A Day In Old New Castle is going to be different!
Totally family-friendly, lots of cool activities, and a DRAMATIC back story: the Great Fire of New Castle, 200 years ago.
National news in a young America, the Great Fire devastated the waterfront and homes and buildings along the river. But the New Castle community recovered and rebuilt, resulting in the elegant street of Federal homes known today as the Strand. There will be a walking tour on the Strand narrating the events of that fateful evening.
Visit Historic New Castle on Saturday, May 18 from 10 AM-5 PM. The town will be alive with activity for all ages!
For more information and tickets:
https://www.historicnewcastle.com/
Did you know New Castle was home to one of the first railroads in America?
The New Castle and Frenchtown Turnpike and Railroad Company started out building a turnpike, switched to building a railroad (for cars drawn by horses) and then purchased a steam locomotive.
The company received its charter in Delaware in 1809, and operations commenced in 1815, establishing a vital turnpike route from New Castle to Old Frenchtown Wharf, Maryland, along Chesapeake Bay.
In 1828, the Maryland General Assembly authorized the transition from turnpike to railroad. Parallel legislative actions in Delaware rebranded the company as the New Castle Turnpike and Railroad Company. Operations of the new railroad commenced in 1831, initially employing horses before transitioning to steam locomotives.
So what happened to that brilliant start? When New Castle was a vital route from New York and New England down to Baltimore and south, a port-to-port railroad here was a great idea. But all to soon (1838) it was bypassed by the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, with a direct land route from Philadelphia.
So gradually fewer passengers arrived by boat and ferry at the wharf at New Castle, bought a ticket and got on a train to the Chesapeake. But the legacy remains: an historical marker, a short stretch of track, and the "sleeper stones" which supported the tracks. You'll recognize them, all over New Castle, by the two holes drilled right through.
PLUS, of course, the iconic and photogenic ticket office in Battery Park. It's hugely famous for a tiny building. Talented photographers have shot this little wooden office behind the picket fence at all times of day, in all seasons of the year.
Stop by with your camera, enjoy the views and geese in Battery Park. and take home an historic railroad memory.
#history #railroad #railroadhistory
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