News Posts:

On Monday, Aug. 26, 2013 at 6:30 p.m., the Underground Railroad Coalition of Delaware will present “Free Black Communities of the 19th Century,” a dual lecture conducted by cultural-heritage consultant Janet L. Sheridan who will discuss Marshalltown which was established circa 1830 in Salem County, N.J., and Dr. Rebecca Sheppard, associate director of the Center […]

By: Alice Guerrant On February 21, 2013, our National Park Service reviewer approved Delaware’s draft historic preservation plan. In March, one of HCA’s talented graphic designers took that draft and turned it into a beautiful publication with an outstanding layout illustrated with photographs and charts. And on April 16, the State Review Board for Historic […]

By: Edward McWilliams HCA Curator of Exhibits/CARE Manager Beautiful blooms and fabulous flowers are the reward for a few hours of bulb preparation invested back in late October.  I thought now would be a good time to provide an update on the progress and fragrant success of the bulb project. Over the past several weeks […]

By: Alice Guerrant As work has continued on The Green, we’ve had another unexpected discovery right outside our windows! Under the old sidewalk, the backhoe bucket hit a wall, which was subsequently uncovered, photographed, and mapped by HCA archaeologists. The wall was not very substantial, and included brick bats, a layer of roofing slates, and […]

By: Jesse Zanavich, Architectural Historian Delaware State Historic Preservation Office With the cold weather here and utility bills on the rise, many historic homeowners may be wondering what they can do to cost-effectively weatherize their homes. But before spending big money to replace your older windows (see Figure 1), first consider a home energy audit. […]

On October 25th, Delaware said goodbye to a beloved artist and friend in Charles Parks. Mr. Parks passed on at the age of 90 in Wilmington, Delaware. Just over a year ago, the State of Delaware was honored to accept the generous donation of more than 300 sculptures and personal objects from the famed sculptor’s […]

By Alice Guerrant, Historic Archaeologist Have you been on The Green in Dover lately? The east side has mounds of dirt, equipment running around, and a lot of construction going on. It looks like a mess now, but the Division’s project will soon improve the sidewalks and landscaping in front of the Old State House […]

Winter Gardening and the Forced Bloom: Bulb Trays and Flower Pots By Edward McWilliams, HCA Curator of Exhibits & CARE Team Manager   In our previous article from the Historical Hobbyist, we discussed the seasonal pastime of forcing bulbs to bloom in the winter. Of the four containers that this technique involves, we covered Bulb […]

Winter Gardening and the Forced Bloom: Bulb Jars and Flower Bricks By Edward McWilliams, HCA Curator of Exhibits & CARE Team Manager When you mention the month “October,” do you think pumpkins, gourds, and scarecrows? I think spring flowers blooming in winter! Yes, October is the time to start bulbs indoors for wintertime blooms. Imagine […]

  It’s the HCA Blog Premier of “Animating Delaware History!” We’ve been doing some work with our Delaware State Seal exhibit at The Old State House and our resident animator, Bradley Dotson, came up with a creative twist to the story behind the Seal:   Of course, this isn’t really how our State Seal came […]