2026 Delmarva Archaeology & History Symposium

The Delaware State Historic Preservation Office of the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the Archaeological Society of Delaware, will present the annual Delmarva Archaeology and History Symposium at the Lewes History Museum, 101 Adams Avenue, in Lewes on Saturday, April 25^th 2026 from 9:00am to 4:30pm.  Researchers and field experts will share findings from historical research to archaeological investigations that bring Delaware’s rich cultural past to life. The event is free to the public and open to the media, and is hosted by Historic Lewes, previously known as the Lewes Historical Society.   

Agenda:

9-9:15 am – Welcome: Gwen Davis (Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer) & John Martin (President of the Archaeological Society of Delaware)

9:15-9:45am – Max Kichline (Archaeologist): Form and Function: A Comparative Minimum Number of Vessels (MNV) Analysis of Ceramics from Select Eighteenth-Century Sites in Delaware

9:45-10:15 am – Sara Downard (Lead Naturalist, Delaware State Parks): Using Interdisciplinary Research to Investigate Marginalized Peoples in 19^th Century Rockland, Delaware

10:30-11am – Dan Griffith (Griffith Archaeology Consulting): Discovery, Recovery, Interpreted Period of Internment and Relatedness – Eleven Unmarked Historic Human Burials at the Avery’s Rest Archaeological Site

11-11:30am – Debra C. Martin (Historic Preservation Planner, City of Wilmington): Will the Real Captain Fountain Please Stand Up? Research on a Delaware Underground Railroad Hero

11:30am-12pm – Brayden Moore (Student, University of Delaware): The Life and Career of Charlotte E. Ray, First Black Woman Lawyer in the United States and Delaware Teacher from 1879-1884

Lunch Break

1:30-2:00pm – Kara Briggs (Architectural Historian): Wallace E. Hance (1889-1943):  An Exploration of his Architectural Works in Delaware

2-2:30pm – Wade Catts (Archaeologist, South River Heritage Consulting): “They Positioned Themselves Behind Christiana Creek… Here the 2^nd Light Infantry Came to Aid”: Archaeological Evidence of a Firefight on Cooch’s Bridge Battlefield

2:45-3:15pm – Emily Whaley (Architectural Historian, Laurel Historical Society): Municipal History through a Historic Lens: How Historic Photographs Can Inform the Historic Record

3:15-3:45pm – Linda Seminario (Archaeologist, Delaware State Parks): Mucking out the Yard: An Investigation of a Nineteenth through Twentieth Century Barn

3:45-4pm – Devon Filicicchia (Site Supervisor, Zwaanandael Museum): Submersed in History: Charting a New Course for Shipwreck Tours of the HMS DeBraak