Visit Old Newcastle in Delaware

Travel with Bennett-Watt and discover the town of Old Newcastle in Delaware.

Male1: Many people that come into this museum, the first question they ask me after seeing all the stuff and seeing this guy, found all the stuff, what’s the most valuable thing in the museum? Male2: There’s one more very interesting and unique individual to meet in southern Delaware, but first the northern part of the state. Old New Castle is acquaint historic little town founded by Peter Stuyvesant, a Dutch in 1651. This is where William Penn first land in the new world and became proprietor here. In the old court house, the capital of Delaware colony and it was moved in—in 1777 when the colonies broke with England. Old New Castle is not that well-preserved to relocate the past. At the Old New Castle dock, a chef much like those used to fly the waters in the 17th century—Fort Delaware protected New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania from 1858 until after World War II. The fort is an imposing castle like fortress reminiscent of European star forts, complete with them out surrounding the entire fortification, only one of its kind in the United States. George: Well, we were of the most powerful fortresses in this hemisphere during the civil war period, mounted a 156 guns. We had gears and between 500 and 600 men and its original purpose was to defend the Delaware River, keep enemy ships from getting up river at Wilmington and especially Philadelphia. Very quickly, the world of — realized that the confederate navy was not going to be offensive in nature and would probably never show up here. And so some smart person in the world of — decided that an island that was mostly three feet below sea level be great place to store confederate prisoners. In the fall of 1862, we started getting confederate prisoners. And 30,000 plus confederate prisoners later by August of 65, it was pretty much empty. For all the purposes became our prisoner of world champions instead of a close total defense fortress. Male2: In the process of continuing restoration, it’s a living history museum that encourages participation by these groups. George: Well, what we do here is quite a bit different from other places you might go through like for example port jacks and the places like that. What we do here is what we call Living History. Our interpreters do not run around in uniforms, well, not modern uniforms. Instead, they dress in period clothing and so actually we can make it and they literally recreate various aspects of life on the island. For instance this year, we are going to year 1864 day by day. Today is the 23rd of May but for us today is the 23rd of May 1864. And we have a timeline that we actually have created and we work according to that timeline. And what was going on here on May 23rd, 1864? Who was here? What were they doing? What were their problems? What were they talking about? What was the news that they were getting from the outside? What news were they making here? And we’d attempt to recreate that so when you step off the jitney, you’re literally stepping into a time machine. Male 2: Commerce in industry in Delaware is upstream around Wilmington, a major port for the region over 400 vessels per year with the annual card note of five million tons. Wilmington is a clean prosperous city within 500 miles of a third of the population of the United States. Fulfilling its destiny is one of the country’s most prosperous commerce and banking centers. Delaware is synonymous with the du Pont’s. Major tour was the state of Henry Francis du Pont—of the Du Pont, gun powder and explosive thing spreading out over a thousand acres, the state’s former Derick Harry said to be the bloodline for 90% of the Derick Camp in the United States. Began in 1838, the Mansion ‘Garuda’ a 175 rooms. Opened to the public, the state houses more than 89,000 antiques in rooms very much the way they were on the Du Pont family who lived here. Du Pont was fascinating with the American Revolution and collected a vast treasure of antiques from the period. Their dining room, a collection of six silver tankers made by Paul Revere for a church in Massachusetts, the only set of six Revere main tankers this time. Above the tankers, an unfinished paint by—of the signing of the piece treaty that ended the revolution. Legend has it, the British wouldn’t sit for the painting so it wasn’t finished. Visiting Winterthur is a great journey through the fact fancy in style of a remarkable collection of the maritime. Here too, the cabin suite varying collection some of which have been found and used by kings, presidents and prominent figures.