New Castle, Delaware USA  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
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 Inside the court room
New Castle was originally settled by the Dutch West India Company in 1651, under the leadership of Peter Stuyvesant. It was built on the site of a former aboriginal village, Tomakonck ("Place of the Beaver") to assert the Dutch claim to the area based on a prior agreement with the aboriginal inhabitants. Due to its strategic location on the Delaware River, ownership of New Castle constantly changed hands during the 1600s when the flags of the Netherlands, Sweden and Great Britain all flew over the town.
Under British rule New Castle became the seat of regional government. New Castle later became the first state capital in 1776 and the town was a vital stop for trade, shipping and an immigration port. As a state capital, great houses and public building were built along with services to serve the needs of the court city.
 Jessops Tavern  Wobbly pavement  Read House gates
As the American Revolution grew near political protests were centered on Newcastle and several signatories of the Declaration of Independence called New Castle their home. The post-Revolution and Federal periods proved to be really prosperous for the town but sadly by the late 1800s there was a gradual decline in trade and revenues for the town and when the courts and county seat moved to Wilmington it further contributed to New Castle’s economic loss. By the early 1900s thankfully residents realized the value of preserving their heritage and developed an architectural preservation movement to protect the town’s old buildings that we are able to enjoy seeing today.
My visit started in the court room and I luckily arrived just in time to join in with an excellent guided tour. The guide gave us a really interesting talk telling us all about how the first Dutch settlers arrived, followed by the Swedish and then the English. It was all very interesting and I had no idea about the details of that period of history before. In the assembly room on June 15th 1776 the resolution was passed to separate both Great Britain and Pennsylvania, creating the state of Delaware.
After my excellent history lesson I set off with a heritage trail leaflet, walking around the old part of town and visiting all the interesting houses, churches and the green that was laid out in 1655 as the centre of the community.
When looking for somewhere for lunch I spotted a likely looking bistro which was just perfect. While I was waiting for my lunch to arrive one of the owners came over for a chat. She was English (from Plymouth) but had lived in America for quite a while. She certainly had an interesting accent and we had a lovely chat.
 Read House  Read House garden
My next stop was Read House on the Delaware riverfront. Dating from 1801 with 22 rooms it was the biggest house in New Castle at the time. I was the only one there and I had a personal tour of the house where I got to see many of the restored rooms set up for the summer climate. The pictures were all covered with muslin cloths to protect them from dust that would come in when all the windows were open during the heat of the summer months. Sadly no photographs were allowed in the house but I can tell you I was really impressed with the restoration of individual rooms.
Read House has had three owners and my guide told me some lovely stories about the Laird family who lived there in the 1920s who sound like they really knew how to have a good time. Several of the rooms have been preserved how they would have decorated them in bright colours and stencilled decorations. With billiard room, tennis courts, and yacht basin, they flew sea planes to Cuba during prohibition and kept their own private speakeasy in the basement. One other story was from a visitor to the house who lived in New Castle. He remembered as a small boy climbing the wall of the garden and having a sneaky swim in the pool that was once in the garden. He was pretty certain that Mrs Laird was aware that they were there, but she never asked them to leave.  Deleware River  Swallowtail
After a good look around the garden of Read House I made my way along the cobbled streets down to the Riverfront. For about five minutes I watched a Swallowtail Butterfly gently flying around me. I began to wonder if it would ever come down to take a rest and eventually it did resting on the grass just for a few seconds before it flew off.
I had really enjoyed my visit to New Castle the sort of old fashioned town I really didn’t expect to find during my visit to America, it is well worth a visit.
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It is certainly a lot nicer than I imagined it to be around there. Like you, I always think of america as not having
much history, but I am very surprised.
Some great pictures again.
Take care
Sherran