A howling winter gale in 1888 very nearly killed the Lewes Station surfmen trying to secure a buoy to the shipwrecked schooner Allie H. Belden. Listen, as they narrate the horrors they faced.
Let’s talk about the Underground Railroad and quilts. This lovely quilt, based on the Log Cabin pattern, is actually a coded symbol to slaves on the run. It would have hung on a clothesline of… Read More »Underground Railroad quilt codes
It’s fitting that the late 19th century doctor’s office preserved today by the Lewes Historical Society was built by David Hall (1831-1905). Hall was steeped in medical culture: his grandfather Joseph, his father Henry, and… Read More »The doctor who couldn’t slow down
Above: The Bangor, first iron steamer in America, built 1843-4 In 1842 the Wilmington outfit Betts, Pusey and Harlan, a builder of railroad cars, was a modest 20 person operation. That was all about to… Read More »Off-chance repair leads to first iron shipbuilding in USA
Above: University of Delaware, Old College / Special Collections, University of Delaware Library Francis Alison planted the seed for what is today the University of Delaware in 1765, when he established the Newark Academy in… Read More »Newark Academy becomes a college
Above: Star Hill was the first A.M.E. church built (1867) in Richard Allen’s hometown of Dover, DE. “He was more like a father to his slaves than anything else,” said Richard Allen years later of… Read More »From ‘poor, wretched, and undone’ to Bishop
Above: Delores St. Armand as Harriet Tubman at 1978 National Portrait Gallery exhibit “Portraits in Motion.” Map courtesy Seaford Museum. Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman (1822-1913) made no less than 19 trips to the south… Read More »‘I swung my shoulder to the wheel’
Above: Fort Delaware, June 1863 / Harper’s Weekly 1863-06-27: Vol 7 Iss 339 The fact is, Fort Delaware was never designed to be used as a prison. That, and the amount of space it occupied… Read More »More life on them, than in them
Above: Alfred I. DuPont and 1901 DeDion Bouton In early November 1900, Alfred I. DuPont’s first car, the first one in Delaware, broke down. Within 3 months he bought his second, this one a French… Read More »Red Demons, Green Flyers, and Knock-a-Bouts
Above: A Dupont Powder Mill Drying House explosion/fire from 1914 / Hagley Museum and Library In 1847 Dupont’s Powder Mill was in the midst of supplying gunpowder to the US Government, then midway through the… Read More »Noise like that of an earthquake