New Castle History G20
Instructor James Meek
Fall 2018 Thursdays 9 -10:15
Sept 6 - Class 1: The Dutch Period:
o Why Ft. Casimir was built;
o What life was like here (fear, disease, scarcity and death)
o The negative opinion from Amsterdam on the quality of the immigrants:
- "none too good, poor as worms and lazy to boot", with "artisans who do not know their jobs".
o Why we speak English now, not Dutch.
Sept 13 -- Class 2: From the Duke of York to Wm. Penn
o Why Penn was a great man, but with problems from politics and piracy
o Penn's Lieutenant Governor Markham and his suspected pirate in-law.
o Privateers -- what they are, with a sea chantey as a learning aid, and connections to 30 The Strand
o Penn's Lt. Governor fakes a raid on PHL to try to scare the Quakers to improve defense.
o New Castle becomes a suburb of PHL.
Sept 20 -- Class 3: Wars: French & Indian, Revolutionary, 1812
o 1756 French & Indian: Weekly newspaper reports of nearby scalpings,
- Construction of the battery financed by a lottery
o 1770's Revolutionary war: terror, minor skirmishes nearby, visit by the British commander's secretary
- Patriots: Scots Irish Presbyterians (McKean, Van Dyke, Bennett, Hopkinson …
- Capitol relocated to Dover
o 1812: Arsenal construction,
- George Read II organizes a Corps of Flying Artillery at the Green Tree (Hares Corner)
- Mrs. Read makes contingency plans to flee to Carlisle PA if we're attacked.
Sept 27 - Class 4: The 1800's
o Latrobe and his survey
o Ice piers, The academy, Needlework school, proposed C&D Canal, The Great Fire, NC&FT RR, then the RR bypasses the town
Oct 4 - Class 5: People to 1850: Portraits of 45 rich and powerful people who lived in town
o What son of a prominent resident was an opium dealer and diplomat?
o What FOUR people who lived or worked in New Castle signed the Declaration of Independence
o Lawyers, judges, sailors, merchant, mother of 13 (!) who lived in 1/3 of our house(!) famous architects, ministers, patriots, librarians, musicians, a nationally famous bride
Oct 11 - Class 6: People to 1950
o Video interviews with people who remember trollies, gas lights, ice skating to NJ, dances in the Opera House, the whipping post, hired help living in a 10' x 12' cabin, working (and dieing) in local steel mills, immigrating from Italy in the 20's then becoming American, shad fishing and life on the waterfront and the Laird yacht basin
Oct 18 - Class 7: The Civil war
What New Castle boy became Adjutant General under Lincoln, then (briefly) Secretary of Sta
o Lincoln's map of slave ownership
o (North) Regular army volunteers, "colored troops", "colored sailors", "witnesses to war"
o (South) Rev. John Johns, Col. John Lambson, husbands of Georege Read III daughters, diary of Annie Dorsey Read Reeves
o Military rule in New Castle
o Julia Jefferson, Angel of Mercy
o McCrone Pic Nic
Oct 25 -- Class 8: Women's Dresses and artifacts at 15 The Strand
How many layers are there underneath a lady's skirt?
o 1750-1850 Dresses rom the portraits of New Castle women on nc-chap.org
o 1860-1920 From dresses in the NCHS collection
o Hoops, bustles, panniers, crinolines, chemises, corsets
o Comparison of men's and women's styles in Victorian England with photos of N.C. residents
o Two residents display the dresses they made and construction stories
o Alice Jarvis -- Artifacts found in a former privy behind her house: china, bottles, clay pipes, bone toothbrushes, ink bottles, lamps, door knob, marbles, doll's leg, tableware, shaving mug, elixir of opium, liniment bottle
Nov 1 - Class 9: Virtual Tours
o Dutch and Amstel Houses
- What's Dutch about the Dutch House?
- What we show visitors in the Amstel House
o Families who lived at 30 The Strand (our house)
- Slator and Ann Curtis Clay and their 11 children (with portraits!) c1740-c1767
- James McCullough and daughter Sara, (1824-1847) witness to The Great Fire
- Julia Jefferson Dungan and daughter Anne (c1903-1965)
- Bill and Marcia Quillen, daughters Carol and Tracy 1970-2003, Supreme Court judge, first female president of Davidson College, first lady of Delaware
Nov 8 - Class 10: Transportation in NC
o Ferries, wharves, canals, RR, trolley, streets (what IS a street?) ...
Nov 15 - Class 11: Industry in NC
o Railroad engines, iron pipe, steel, fibers, flour, illuminating gas, artillery shells, rayon, propylene for bottles, guitar picks, cotton gloves ...
Nov 22 Thanksgiving, No Class
Nov 29 - Class 12: Architectural styles in NC:
o Easily recognized Georgian, Federal and Victorian architectural elements that let you guess a building's age within 10 years!
Dec 6 - Class 13: A Virtual Tour of New Castle
o Comparison photos of then and now.
o Recap and new perspectives on houses, stores, architecture, businesses, people. A few blocks and 350 years of history!