Category: A Local Journey out of Manhattan

Lewes Historical Society 110 Shipcarpenter Street Lewes, DE 19958

Lewes Historical Society 110 Shipcarpenter Street Lewes, DE 19958

Lewes Historical Society

110 Shipcarpenter Street

Lewes, DE 19958

(302) 645-7670

https://www.historiclewes.org/

Open: Please check out the website for event days

https://www.historiclewes.org/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g34028-d552705-r882669782-Lewes_Historical_Society-Lewes_Delaware.html?m=19905

The Lewes Historical Society at 110 Shipcarpenter Street (Hiram Rodney Burton House-History below)

The Mission Statement of the Lewes Historical Society

(From the Lewes Historical Society Website)

Our Mission:

The Lewes Historical Society promotes and advocates the preservation, interpretation, and cultural enrichment of the Lewes region, through museum exhibits, educational programs, historical research, and publications.

The Society:

(From the Lewes Historical Society Website)

The Lewes Historical Society can trace its roots to a small group of concerned citizens who joined forces to establish the organization in 1962. Troubled by the loss of significant local structures and the deterioration of historic buildings, the group invited like-minded Lewes residents to join as members, a group that continues to grow each year.

Starting with the purchase of a lot at Third and Shipcarpenter Street, the campus of the Lewes Historical Society was gradually assembled as buildings threatened with destruction or abandonment were moved to the property. Today, there are a dozen buildings that tell the history of Lewes through the display of artifacts, artwork, decorative arts, and furnishings.

The Cannonball Museum courtyard

Three buildings are located in the heart of town, the Ryves Holt House (c. 1631), the Cannonball House (c 1760) and the Museum Store (c. 1898). On the canal, you will find the Lewes Life-Saving Station (c. 1884).

The Cannonball House Museum

https://www.historiclewes.org/visit/calendar/event/313-cannonball-house-maritime-museum.html

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g34028-d1382665-Reviews-Cannonball_House-Lewes_Delaware.html

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/8779

I recently visited the Lewes Historical Society in Lewes, DE. Part of the grounds were open that afternoon for what looked like a special event. I saw costumed actors walking around the grounds but the main building was closed so I figured it was for a private event. Still they opened all the outer buildings on the grounds so I was able to visit the School House, the Doctor’s Office, the General Store and some of the historical homes. The grounds were just coming into bloom with the first day of Spring just a couple of days earlier.

The grounds are very well signed so that you can take the tour on your own. The exhibits are very well detailed and have lots of artifacts that make them interesting to visit. You get a grasp of what life was like at the turn of the last century. The grounds were nicely landscaped so it will be something to see in the late Spring and early Summer. Most of the special events and meetings don’t start until April when it starts to get busy again. There is a lot planned so look at their website for events and when they are scheduled.

I toured most of the grounds that were open that afternoon and also toured the Lewes History Museum in another part of the downtown a few blocks away. The museum tells the history of Lewes and also has a nice collection of artifacts. The Cannonball House on Front Street is closed for now for renovations but I was able to tour it last September. It has a nice collection of shipping, fishing and Revolutionary War pictures and artifacts. The grounds of that museum are open and there is a lot to see in their courtyard. The Cannonball House will be open in May of 2023. I will be revisiting all three again closer to the summer.

Each of the open buildings were filled with artifacts that represented the building. The School House was prepared for the first day of school circa 1890-1920. It is amazing how much a school has not really changed that much in setup since that time. The board is still up front and the desks lined up perfectly.

The Doctor’s Office is nearly the same as a current one with different equipment. Still you would think that the doctor just stepped out for a moment. The room was filled with medical equipment of that time period. The Thompson Country Store was the most interesting in that the store was opened in the late 1880’s and closed in 1962. The attached house is intact with the connections to other parts of the home and the store was fully stocked with merchandise.

With the seasons just changing to Spring, the grounds were filled with daffodils, crocuses and Tulips that were all peeking out of their Winter slumber. Everything was coming back to life and it was a very nice, mild Spring afternoon of walking around the grounds and visiting the buildings that were open.

It will be fun to see the whole Society grounds when everything is open and ready to go for the season.

The Cannonball House grounds during Christmas time

Situated on the Campus is a range of examples of Lewes architecture: the early plank house (c. 1690), Hiram Rodney Burton House (c. 1720), the Rabbits’ Ferry House (c. 1740), the Burton-Ingram House (c. 1785), the Ellegood House and Blacksmith Shop (c. 1790), Thompson Country Store (c 1800), the Doctor’s Office (c. 1850) and the Midway School (c. 1898).

Lewes Historical Society’s grounds in the early Spring

The most recent addition is the Lewes History Museum, located in the Margaret H. Rollins Community Center on 101 Adams Avenue. Here you will find permanent and changing exhibits that offer insights into the complex and colorful history of Lewes and the surrounding area. This building is also the repository of the Archives of the Lewes Historical Society, which are available to the public, by appointment.

Lewes History Museum at 101 Adams Avenue is part of the Lewes Historical Society

https://www.historiclewes.org/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g34028-d17640472-Reviews-Lewes_History_Museum-Lewes_Delaware.html

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g34028-d552705-r882669782-Lewes_Historical_Society-Lewes_Delaware.html?m=19905

My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/7489

As you browse the LHS website, you will discover a robust calendar of annual events, including the Mid Atlantic Sea Glass & Coastal Arts Festival, Craft Fairs, Maritime Festival & Antique Show, Speaker Series, Living History Tavern Talk, Artist as Historian, camps and other programs for children. Join us for one of these programs and consider becoming a member of this vibrant arts and cultural organization.

The Drying Machine at the Lewes Historical Society’s grounds

The History of the Society:

(From the Lewes Historical Society website):

Around 1960, a local newspaper columnist named Marjorie Virden wrote several articles for the local papers lamenting the fact that many of Lewes’ fine eighteenth-century buildings were rapidly disappearing. Particular attention was called to the plight of the David Rowland House on Front Street, which carries in its foundation a cannonball memento of the War of 1812 and the Bombardment of Lewes in April of 1813. Over the years, the house had been so neglected that the interior brick nogging was visible through missing shingles.

Historical Home on the grounds of the Lewes Historical Society

The inside of the historical house

One day in 1961, a group of concerned citizens including Robert Orr, Ginnie Orr, and Sarah Chambers were sailing down the canal towards Roosevelt Inlet. As they passed the Rowland House, someone remarked that no action had been taken to save Lewes’s historic architecture despite much talk. That same evening, Mrs. Orr held a meeting for dozens of concerned citizens at her house. Soon after, a general meeting was held to organize The Lewes Historical Society. Temporary officers were selected, invitations sent – with excellent results – to prospective members, and The Lewes Historical Society was officially founded on January 19, 1962.

The Doctor’s Office

19th Century Medicine

The inside of the Doctor’s office of the 19th Century

Later that year, a lot at the corner of Third and Shipcarpenter Streets was purchased and named the Lewes Historic Complex. The Burton-Ingram House, Thompson Country Store, Rabbits’ Ferry House, Creamery, Necessary, Early Plank House, Blacksmith Shop, and Ellegood House were gradually moved to the Complex and restored. Conservation efforts continue today. The neglected house of David Rowland was eventually bought by the Society and restored. Today it sits on its original site at the corner of Front and Bank Streets and serves as the popular Cannonball House Maritime Museum.

The front grounds of the Lewes Historical Society-The Hiram Rodney Burton House

In 1989, the John Farrace Bequest enabled the Society to purchase 110 Shipcarpenter Street, then known as the Watts property, and renamed as the Hiram Rodney Burton House to honor a local physician and Delaware’s Congressman from 1901-to 1904. This structure houses the Society’s administrative offices. In 1991, Freddie’s Barn, the Society’s maintenance facility, was built to honor long-time historic preservationist and restoration specialist, Fred Hudson, who has worked for the Society since the summer of 1962. The Doctor’s Office, previously located on Second Street, was moved to the Complex to consolidate Society properties and in 2000, it was joined by Midway School #178.

Freddie’s Barn on the Lewes Historical Society property

The plaque dedicated to Fredrick E. Hudson for Freddie’s Barn

With the cooperation of the City of Lewes, the Society received a lease to the waterfront property on the canal at the foot of Shipcarpenter Street, where the boathouse of the Lewes Life Saving Station sits. Since 1997, the Society has leased the Ryves Holt House at the corner of Second and Mulberry Streets from the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware. Located in the heart of Lewes’s thriving business district, the Ryves Holt House serves as the Society’s Visitors Center, gift shop, and the permanent Jacob Jones Exhibition.

The Ryves Holt House is the Lewes Information office

The Lewes Information office gardens in the early Spring

The Zwaanendael Park in the Spring. This is just behind the Information building

Zwaanendael Park in the Spring

The entrance of the Lewes Historical Society

The Society continues to offer a rich and exciting array of activities that engage our visitors and promote Lewes’ unique heritage to an ever-increasing number of seasonal guests and year-round residents of the area. From our interpretive programs such as Tavern Talks to the Mid-Atlantic Sea Glass Festivals, Antique Shows, and Craft Fairs the Society offers annual programs that have become signature events.

The Thompson Country Store

The Thompson Country Store

The inside of the Thompson Country Store

The Society has sponsored several conferences on Lewes and Delaware History, has invited numerous local, national, and international scholars and dignitaries to speak at its events, and promotes the arts and cultural exploration and appreciation in Southern Delaware. As Lewes continues to grow, the Society will strive to maintain a record of the past of this special and ancient town by the sea.

The Society Home-The Burton-Ingram House

The sign of the Burton-Ingram House

The Sussex Tavern is open once a month for special events

The Sussex Tavern on the Lewes Historical Society grounds

The School House on the grounds of the Lewes Historical Society

The inside of the School House

The Outhouse

Don’t miss this wonderful self-guided tour of the Lewes Historical Society.

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Zwaanendael Museum 102 Kings Highway Lewes, DE 19958

Zwaanendael Museum 102 Kings Highway Lewes, DE 19958

Zwaanendael Museum

102 Kings Highway

Lewes, DE 19958

(302) 645-1148

https://www.facebook.com/Zwaanendael/

Admission: Free

Open: Sunday-Tuesday Closed/Wednesday-Saturday 10:00am-4:15pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g34028-d103509-Reviews-Zwaanendael_Museum-Lewes_Delaware.html

The Zwaanendael Museum at 102 Kings Highway

The Zwaanendael Museum was inspired by the town hall in Hoorn, the Netherlands and commemorates the founding of Delaware’s first European settlement by the Dutch along Hoorn Kill (present day Lewes-Rehoboth Canal) in 1631. It’s programs showcase how the Lewes area’s Dutch and maritime histories unite.

The museum has limited hours but is free to the public.

Information signs

The inside of the museum explains the history of Lewes starting with the Dutch Colony. The growth of the Colony, the shipping industry and the shipwrecks off the coast line. There are many artifacts that the museum has either found or been donated to over the years. There is another display of the railroad industry and its growth in Lewes which lead to it becoming a seaside resort in the later half of the 19th century. The museum was created to honor the 300th Anniversary of the Dutch settlement of Zwaanendael. The museum represents the history of Sussex County in Delaware (Wiki).

The first floor gallery is filled with the history of the Railroads and the Shipping industry

The first floor galleries contain many artifacts that were recovered from the sea or donations that were made to the museum. This tells the story of early Lewes, DE. This gives a visitor a grasp of the importance of Lewes as a shipping port in the early days of the colonies. As the railroads replaced the shipping industry, you begin to see the growth and importance of Lewes as a trading port.

On the second floor there is a display on the Royal family of the Netherlands, a large display of ceramic Delftware and there is even the body of a mermaid. There were also displays of the local farming industry and the commercialization of the produce of the area.

The history of the Railroad industry in Lewes brought this sleepy farming community residents from far away that turned it into a resort town and a destination for summer tourism

The Railroad industry continued to grow and become more prosperous in Lewes

The railroads also help moved farming products out of the area and into urban markets

Lewes was also a big area for shipping with a busy port especially during the Revolutionary War.

The tale of the DeBraak, one of the shipping vessels of the war years

Life on the shipping vessels

Some of the recovered artifacts from shipwrecks off the coast of Lewes

The tales of the ship “DeBraak” and its story

The ship the “DeBraak”

The second floor of the museum has interesting displays on the aspects of life in Lewes and the influence of the Dutch on the community. It also offers many novelties such as a mermaid.

Display of the packing crates on the second floor

How items were shipped in the early days of the shipping industry

The Zwaanendael Mermaid is the most unique item in the collection. It makes you think it is real.

The Zwaanendael Mermaid

The Delftware collection

The history of Delftware

The lighthouses of Delaware

Display of the items that were canned in Lewes that were part of the growth of the farming industry in Lewes

The entrance of the Zwaanendael Museum in the winter months

The Century Museum and Collectors Association Dutchess County Fairgrounds 6636 Route 9 Rhinebeck, NY 12572

The Century Museum and Collectors Association Dutchess County Fairgrounds 6636 Route 9 Rhinebeck, NY 12572

The Century Museum and Collectors Association Dutchess County Fairgrounds 6636 Route 9 Rhinebeck, NY 12572

(845) 876-4000

https://centurymuseum.wixsite.com/home

https://www.dutchessfair.com/explore/fair-features/

Open: When the fairgrounds are open Spring, Summer and Fall for events

Admission: Free

My review on TripAdvisor:

The Century Museum Village inside the Dutchess County Fairgrounds

When the Dutchess County Fairgrounds are open for the season for big events in the Spring, Summer and Fall, the fairgrounds open their historical museums that are located on the property. These include the School House Museum and the Train Station Museum and the when the volunteers are there the Dutchess County Volunteer Firemen’s Museum. The main museum is the Century Museum Village, a look at rural life in Dutchess County at the turn of the last century.

The Schoolhouse Museum in the Century Museum Village

The Train Station Museum at the Century Museum Village

The Century Museum Village gives an interesting look of the changes in life in rural communities all over the United States until the start of WWII. Farming communities had their own way of life, their own clubs and organizations and traditions that were different from City residents. Life on the farm was productive but hard work. As time rolled on, modern conveniences found their way to these communities but as we see by all the machinery, there was still a lot of work to done.

As you progress through the different displays and dioramas, you can see how life improved over time. Progress swept through these communities between WWI and WWII and with the spread of the second industrial revolution after WWII and the change of the consumer market. The advent of the modern highways, the newly built suburbs and movement out of the cities changed these regions even more.

The entrance of the museum and the various dioramas

The museum is lined with different displays of life in the rural community and the advancements made in these communities between about 1880-1930.

The Advancement in farming practices and equipment

Ice block industry for refrigeration

The household for the farmhouse wife started to become easier with new machinery to help around the house. Modern ways of washing clothes, cooking food and cleaning the house started to make life a bit easier in the household. This left time for a social life and to tend to other things around the house.

The Modern Conveniences of the home

The modern household items to make life easier from 1870-1929

The modern kitchen before electricity came out to the country was still run by coal and wood. Modern electricity would not start until after WWI and even then was not available to everyone. Cooking and washing had gotten easier but still required some work on a everyday basis.

The Kitchen in the Country

The home decor had changed after the Civil War to WWI with the changes in mass production and industrialization. Furniture, rugs, lamps and pictures had become available in all makes and sizes for sale both through catalogs and General stores or maybe a trip to the City to a Department store. People were able to furnish their homes nicer due to mass production and changes in quality of home furnishings.

The Rural Bedroom

Bedrooms have not changed much since then

The idea of the Parlor is equivalent to our modern Living Room. It is usually the room that all socializing is done in, where the family’s best furniture and knick-knacks were placed. It was the nicest room in the house.

The Rural Parlor

The finest home furnishes and the pride of the home was displayed in the parlor.

Both inside and outside the home there would be changes in the way people lived over a fifty year period. There would be changes in plumbing, carpentry and printing. Modernization would change the way people did their jobs and the way they interacted with their customers.

Modern Machinery

A better way to chop wood

Modern pump processes

Shopping was beginning to change after the Civil War as well. The days of people making everything at home was not longer necessary as more and more consumer items became available. Clothing, dishes, toys and hardware could be bought at the General store along with prepared and bakery items. It made life for the rural housewife easier.

The General Store

Prepared items in the General Store

The bakery items and things for sale at the General Store

Quilting has always been a social affair with women meeting and gossiping while working on projects on their own or one big project for the home.

Women working together making quilts and sewn items for the home.

Crocheting for the home

Use of Looms for clothing and rugs

Modern printing took a turn as more modern machines made it easier to produce printing items for playbills, newspapers and magazines. The end of the WWI our modern magazines were being created. The way trades were changing more modern equipment was being used in every industry.

The Printing Press as things start to automat

The Clock Maker

Wood Harvesting

Transportation continued to improve as we moved from the horse and buggy to the modern carriage to the automobile. Improvements continued when mass production started with the Model T Ford and just kept improving. Still even today we like the idea of horse drawn carriages and sleigh rides as a traditional part of our past that we like to maintain especially during the holidays.

Horse Drawn carriages and Model T’s

The School House Museum:

The Modern School has not changed much since its rural past. I just think you can’t hit a student with a ruler anymore and I could not see a student with a Dunce cap in today’s politically correct world. The blackboard has not gone out of style as well as a teacher teaching the next generation.

The One Room School House Museum

The school room set up still remains the same to a certain point.

I don’t think would happen to the modern student

The One Room School House set up.

As the museum shows us, somethings have changed and some things remain the same. At some point, we did things right.

Old Town Hall Museum/Harrison Township Historical Society Inc. P.O. Box 4 Mullica Hill, NJ 08062

Old Town Hall Museum/Harrison Township Historical Society Inc. P.O. Box 4 Mullica Hill, NJ 08062

Old Town Hall Museum/Harrison Township Historical Society Inc.

P.O. Box

Mullica Hill, NJ. 08062

(856) 478-4949

https://www.harrisonhistorical.com/

https://m.facebook.com/Harrison-Township-Historical-Society-310499278053/

Open: Sunday 1:00pm-4:00pm/Monday-Friday Closed/Saturday 1:00pm-4:00pm

Admission: Free but a donation would be appreciated.

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g46655-d25105321-r866773005-Harrison_Township_Historical_Society-Mullica_Hill_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

The Old Town Hall Museum/Harrison County Historical Society

The Harrison Township Historical Society/Old Town Hall Museum

Current Exhibition:

TORNADO 

This new exhibition commemorates the 2021 Hurricane Ida Tornado through first-person narratives, artifacts, video and photography. 

The Mission of the Old Town Hall Museum/Harrison Township Historical Society Inc.:

(from the Museum pamphlet)

Since its founding in 1971, the Harrison Township Historical Society has presented exhibitions, events, programs and publications focusing on the heritage of South Jersey in Mullica Hill’s Old Town Hall that was built in 1871.

The Stone Age in Harrison Township and Living Off the Land: Food, Farms and Families, explore the region’s Paleo-Indian heritage and our local foodway and farming traditions. The Raccoon Valley General Store and the Harrison Academy Schoolroom recreate two rural institutions.

We also present seasonally changing special exhibitions, student programs and unique special events like the annual Groundhog Dinner (featuring local sausage-“ground” hog!) and the popular Mullica Hill Ghost Walk in October. Visit https://www.harrisonhistorical.com/ for news and information.

Come and experience our Heritage!

Our History:

(from the Museum website)

In 1971 the Township Committee of Harrison Township under the leadership of Mayor Philip J. Reuter, appointed a committee whose purpose was to form a historical society that would lead a community effort to preserve and provide a new purpose for Mullica Hill’s historic Old Town Hall.

Since that time the Harrison Township Historical Society has successfully met this initial charge, not only preserving the building (a key contributing structure in the Mullica Hill National Register Historic District), but also establishing a museum that has won state and national awards for its exhibitions, programs and publications.

The “Living off the Land” exhibition shows life on the farm in Southern New Jersey. This exhibition shows life on a South Jersey farm from the late 1600’s to today with some of the equipment, commercial items and furniture showing the lifestyle on the farm. This first floor exhibition gives us a peek at what life is like in the day of a farming family.

The main room on the first floor of the museum is broken down into sections. In the special gallery space is the exhibition “Tornado” about the tornado that hit the surrounding area during Hurricane Ida in 2021. The exhibition gives first hand accounts of what happened and people’s experiences and the clean up.

In the Main Room when you enter is the Raccoon General Store and the Harrison Academy schoolroom showing what life was like in rural Southern New Jersey.

Raccoon General Store:

All sorts of everyday items were sold in the General Store which was also a gathering place for the town’s citizens. This is where you would catch up with your neighbors at a time before telephones.

Everyday items would be found in the General Store

Everything could be bought at the General Store for the house with special trips into the City during the holidays or for special occasions

Household items at the General Store

In the back of the General Store is the exhibition of the Harrison Academy Schoolhouse showing teaching in rural New Jersey up until about 60 years ago. These rural communities had the one room school in some cases up until WWII. As the areas developed, the regionalized school system came into play and these small schools became of thing of the past.

The schoolroom set up has not changed much over the last 100 years

The room was still heated by the potbelly stove

The Teacher’s Desk, the globe and picture of the President still exists in the classroom today

In the center room is the old Post Office, another fixture of the town’s social life. This was located in Mullica Hill up until fifty years ago.

The Mullica Hill Post Office

The entrance to the hall with the Post Office and Farm Equipment

The facade of the old Post Office

The back part of the exhibition is the farm equipment that would be used in commercial farming. The processing and packaging of fruits and vegetables would have been done when the harvest was being picked and getting ready for markets in New York, Philadelphia and Newark. Fruits and vegetables were packaged on the farm and readied for market.

Life on the farm was not always easy

All sorts of equipment for processing fruits and vegetables is on display

All the bailing and shifting equipment needed on a farm

Business advertising

Packaging fruits and vegetables for the market

Life on the Farm

The second floor also provides not just a look into the life of the farming family but at the Native American’s life in the area before the colonist settlement.

The artifacts of the Native American Lenape Indians

The local Native Americans the Lenapehoking

Day to day equipment and home products of the Native Americans

Arrowheads from New Jersey and beyond

Family life on the farm included the family dinner

Meals would have included churning butter, gathering eggs, milking cows, processing apples for cider, baking and pickling.

Preparing for a meal would have meant the best linens and china would come out of storage and placed on the table.

Families sat down together on Sundays to eat and enjoy each others company.

More processing of household items

The museum shows that not much has changed over the years but with the advent of modern technology with cars, the telephone and electricity, life on the farm changed but not by much. Traditions and processing crops still had to be done just differently. Life in America was going to change by the beginning of the Twentieth Century and this way of life would be part of the ‘myth’ of small town living. This still does exist in some parts of the rural country.

It is a great little museum with a lot to see on two floors.

History of the Museum:

Fun Facts:

*People have been living in present day Harrison Township for over 10,000 years.

*Harrison Township originally included South Harrison and the western edge of Elk.

*The Township was named after President William Henry Harrison.

*There is a village called Mullica Hill in Finland.

*The first air shipment of fresh produce in the US took off from here.