Area Museums Offer the Cure for the Winter Blues

By Lynn R. Parks

Delaware can trace its history to the middle of the 17^th century, with the founding of Lewes on the shores of the Delaware Bay and the landing of the Swedes on the shores of the Christiana River. Accordingly, the state boasts several museums, illuminating the pasts of the people who built Delaware, their ways of life and their tie to the water that defined so many of their communities.

Following are several of the museums in Kent and Sussex counties.

The Zwaanendael Museum, at the corner of Savannah Road and Kings Highway, Lewes, was built in 1931 to commemorate the 300^th anniversary of the founding of Swanendael settlement, what is now Lewes. It is a near replica of the 1613 town hall in Hoorn, the Netherlands, from where the early settlers set out. The first floor of the 2,800-square foot museum is devoted to two permanent exhibits: one on the very early history of what would become Lewes and the other on the HM Brig DeBraak, a British naval ship that sank in a sudden storm off the coast of Lewes on May 25, 1798.

On the museum’s second floor are exhibits focusing on four topics: the bombardment of Lewes by the British during the War of 1812, the Cape Henlopen lighthouse that slipped into the sea in 1926, the pilots of the Delaware River and Bay and the ever-changing coastline.

This winter, the Zwaanendael is featuring an exhibit, ‘Tis the Season to be Scientific. The exhibit features hand-made weather instruments with which visitors can experiment.

The Zwaanendael is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sunday, 1:30 to 4:30. Admission is free. For details, call 645-1148.

Cape Henlopen State Park, Lewes, is home to a refurbished World War II firetower, built at a time when fears of enemy ships entering the Delaware Bay were running high. The 75-foot tower, constructed to provide soldiers a place to watch for and fire at ships, permits a 360-degree view of the park and surrounding land, from Lewes to Rehoboth and, on a good day, across the bay to Cape Henlopen. The park is open daily from sunrise to sunset. Admission to the park costs $2.50 for a car with Delaware registration, $5 for out-of-state cars. For details, visit the Seaside Nature Center at the park or call 645-6852.

The Indian River Lifesaving Station was built in 1879 just south of Dewey Beach to house members of the US Life-Saving Service, now the US Coast Guard, who watched the sea for wrecked ships. Similar stations were built every five miles along the coast; sailors who manned the stations were responsible for patrolling 2.5 miles north and south. The Indian River Station has been restored by the Delaware Seashore Preservation Foundation and features information on the lifesaving history of the Delaware coast, including the Revenue Cutter Service, the U.S. Lifesaving Service, the U.S. Coast Guard Service, sunken ships, famous rescues and pirates. Newly renovated is the keeper’s room, the quarters of the Life-Saving Service officer in charge of the station. Programs will be offered through the summer and there is a museum store on site. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $3 for adults, $2.50 for senior citizens 62 and older and $1 for children 6to 12. Children 5 and under are admitted free. For details, call 227-0478.

The DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum in Bethany Beach is undergoing renovations and is expected to reopen the second week of February. It features artifacts rescued from shipwrecks – including the Titanic – as well as large fish tanks. Movies, shown every day, explain how treasure is recovered and explore different sites. For details, call 539-9366.

The Treasures of the Sea Museum is located in Delaware Technical and Community College, Georgetown. The museum features treasures and artifacts taken from the shipwreck of the Attocha, discovered off the coast of Delaware. Genuine gold coins from the wreck are available for sale. The museum is open Monday and Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday, noon to 4 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Admission is $2.50 for adults, $2 for people 65 and older, $1 for students and free for children 4 and under. For details, call 856-5700.

Located in an old stone block firehouse, the Bridgeville Museum contains documents, photos and books relating to the history of the town. The museum, owned by the Bridgeville Historical Society, also has on display articles of clothing from bygone eras. For details, call 337-7600. A 452-piece doll collection that was until recently housed in the museum has been moved to the Woodbridge High School auditorium foyer, three blocks south and one block west at the corner of Laws and Edgewood streets. For details, call 337-8289.

The Railroad Museum in Delmar celebrates that town’s heritage as an early railroad town. A 19^th-century railroad highball signal, originally used to signal train engineers to stop, is also on display near the railroad that runs through the heart of town. The museum is located in Camelot Hall, the fellowship hall of St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church, State Street. It is open some weekends. For details, call the town hall, 846-2664.

The Nutter D. Marvel Museum south of Georgetown features a collection of historic buildings and horse drawn carriages. The museum also has on display thousands of photographs, newspaper clippings, books and other memorabilia about Georgetown. The buildings which house the collection include two barrel-roof barns, a 100-year-old church, a one-room school house, a blacksmith shop, two old railroad freight buildings, a dining room with kitchen, storage buildings and an office.

Marvel, local entrepreneur, horseman and legislator, died in 1988. His collection was given to the town of Georgetown in 1992 by his grandchildren. For more information, contact the Georgetown Historical Society at 855-9660.

The Seaford Historical Society operates the Ross Plantation, the home of William Ross, governor from 1851 - 1855, as well as the Seaford Museum. In addition to the 1860 home of Ross’, the plantation includes the only known surviving slave quarters in Delaware as several other outbuildings. The museum, now located on New Street but soon to be moved to the former post office on High Street, focuses on the history of the town, including its shipping industry and the DuPont nylon plant. For details, call the Seaford Historical Society, 628-9500.

The Delaware Agricultural Museum opened in August 1980 and is dedicated to preserving the agricultural heritage of Delaware and the Delmarva Peninsula. It includes a main exhibit building and 15 structures associated with a 19^th-century farming community. More than 4,000 artifacts are displayed in the main exhibit building, including butter churns and threshers, an 18^th-century log house and the first ever broiler chicken house.

The Biggs Museum of American Art houses the personal collection of Sewell C. Biggs, who died earlier this year. During his lifetime, Biggs assembled a collection that spans 200 years and includes paintings, from colonial portraiture to 20^th-century impressionism, and furniture and silver from some of the best Delaware and Philadelphia craftsmen in the colonial and federal periods.

Through March 30, the museum, which is housed in the State Visitor’s Center in Dover, will have an exhibit From Tankards to Teacups, the Art of Serving Beverages in Early America. The exhibit features a variety of vessels, ceramic, glass and silver, used to store, serve and consume beverages from the 1700s through the mid 1800s.

On Wednesday, Feb. 5, 7 p.m., the museum will present "A Brief History of Etiquette and Its Different Cultural Aspects." Lise Chase, columnist for the Delaware State News, will speak and the Dover Century Club, 40 The Green. Admission is free to members of the museum as well as of the Century Club.

On Saturday, Feb. 8, the museum will sponsor a Mother Daughter Tea for mothers (or grandmothers, aunts or friends) and girls 6 and older. The ladies should wear hats and the girls can bring favorite dolls. All should dress for an old-fashioned tea party. Cost is $25 for a member and one child, $30 for a non-member and one child. Additional children are $10 each. Reservations are required. For details, call 674-2111.

On Thursday, Feb. 20, the museum will show the movie "Johnny Tremaine" at the Dover Century Club, 40 The Green. Admission is free to members.

The Johnson Victrola Museum in Dover contains the personal collection of Eldridge R. Johnson, a Dover native and a manufacturing machinist. "By his inventive and business genius, he made it possible for the first time in the world’s history for good music to be heard in even the most humble home," said his son, E. R. Fenimore Johnson, in dedicating the museum as a memorial to his father.

Artifacts in the museum come from the 1890s through 1929. The archives and library are available by appointment only; for details, call 739-5316. For details about the museum in general, call 739-4266.

On Feb. 20, the State Visitor Center will open an exhibit, "In the Finest Manner: Furnishings from the John Dickinson Plantation." The exhibition surveys furniture and decorative arts styles that were available to the family of John Dickinson, who lived in Dover and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. It also provides an update on restoration projects at the Dickinson Mansion east of Dover on the St. Jones River. 

Also this winter, the visitor center has on exhibit exterior architectural elements from various structures throughout the state. The items, no longer being used to enhance their buildings, were collected from several Delaware State Museum storage facilities.

The Visitor Center, 406 Federal St., Dover, is open Monday through Saturday, 8:30 to 4:30, and Sunday, 1:30 to 4:30. Admission is free. For details, call 739-4266.

The John Dickinson Plantation, Kitts Hummock Road, Dover, was the home of John Dickinson, who signed the Declaration of Independence. The plantation is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and after February, Sunday, 1:30 to 4:30. Admission is free.

The Delaware State House, on The Green in Dover, was the first permanent capital building in Dover. Begun in 1787 and completed in 1792, the Georgian-style structure was home to all levels of government in the state. The State House is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sunday, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Admission is free.

The Museum of Small Town Life is located at 316 S. Governors Ave., Dover. Housed in the former Presbyterian Sunday school building, construction in 1880, this museum features exhibits that describe what life was like in the late 19^th century in small Delaware towns.

There are five "shops," each marked with period store fronts and featuring artifacts that would have been in typical shops in 1880.

The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Admission is free. Fro details, call 739-4266.

The Delaware Archaeology Museum at 316 S. Governors Ave., Dover, focuses on the archaeological history of Delaware, dating back 12,000 years to the last ice age in North America. It also examines the process of archaeology.

The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Admission if free. For details, call 739-4266.

Jim – these museums are open only in the summer. You might not want to include them in this story. Lynn

The Anna B. Hazzard Museum is located in an original Methodist camp "tent," or small frame house, in Rehoboth. Three original tents, constructed along Baltimore Avenue, survive, two in their original location and one which was moved in 1974 to Christian Street. The Christian Street tent now houses the Rehoboth Beach Historical Society and the museum, named after an early tent owner and the first woman real estate agent in Delaware.

The museum focuses on the history of Rehoboth. Photograph displays focus on hotels that graced the town from 1875 to 1966 and two storms, one in 1914 and the other in 1962, that had devastating effects on the beach front. The three-room museum also contains period kitchen ware as well as clothes and accessories popular at the turn of the 20^th century. Writings on display include programs from meetings of the Sussex County Women’s Christian Temperance Union and a compendium of pre-colonial artifacts found in the area.

The museum is open from May through October, Wednesday and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Curator is Irene Simpler. For details, call 226-1119.

Lewes is also home to the Overfalls, an old Coast Guard lightship that is undergoing renovations and that is open to the public. Permanently docked at Lewes’ city dock, the Overfalls is the last of 179 – and one of 14 remaining – Coast Guard lightships the United States built between 1778 and 1938. The lightships served as moveable lighthouses.

The lightship that is in Lewes was built in 1938 and stationed at various spots along the east coast. It was decommissioned in 1972 and given to the Lewes Historical Society, which owns it still. The Overfalls Maritime Museum Foundation is raising money to refurbish the lightship and to move it onto dry ground, to halt corrosion of the steel hull. For the first time in 28 years, the Overfalls’ light is lit and liberty lights – white lights that go from the bow, up to the very top of the ship and back to the stern – shine every night.

The Overfalls is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Memorial Day through Labor Day. There is no admission fee. For details, call Ted Kanakos, 644-4646.