here's a look at another delaware town, new castle. new castle is delaware's version of williamsburg; the city is packed to the brim with historic houses, taverns, and government buildings. in fact, the rockefellers considered making new castle their "living history museum" back in the 1930's, but the town wasn't interested. the rockefellers decided to go with williamsburg, virginia, instead. new castle wasn't just any historic city, though. it was the colonial capital of delaware. the capital was moved to dover in 1777 because the british had made their way through newark to the west and chester county, pennsylvania, en route to philadelphia, and delaware leaders feared that the british would try to take new castle as well.



battery park, on the delaware river. william penn first set foot on north american soil around the north end of battery park.

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/8540/dscf26273vw.jpg

the view of the delaware memorial bridge from battery park. the delaware memorial bridge is the longest twin suspension bridge in the world.

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looking at pennsville, new jersey, from battery park. one of the many ships that import and export in wilmington or philadelphia sails by.

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looking north up the strand, the most historic of many historic streets in new castle. the richest people in the city lived along this street, and trade centered around this street as well.

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normally i don't include pictuers of advertisements, but when an advertisement dates back to the early 1700's i'll make an exception. this advertisement for ivory soap is located on the side of a house in packet alley, which led to the docks on the delaware river.

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the george read house, built in 1801. george read ii, who built ths house, was the son of george read, who signed the declaration of independence and a member of the continental congress. i took this picture from the empty lot on the other side of the street that the reads owned. the lot was created to give the reads a view of the delaware river, and to give them access to the river so that their shipments unloaded from the boats could be brought right onto their property.

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the arsenal at old new castle. the building was built between 1809 and 1811 to be used for the upcoming war with britain. it was used as supply storage, and for housing troops decades later. the building is now a restaurant.

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new castle common, with a statue of william penn in the middle. market street is on the left, and second street is on the right. the town green is on the left.

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four flags that flew over new castle: sweden, the netherlands, britain, and the united states.

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the old new castle county courthouse, built in 1732. this served as the capital of delaware until 1777.

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the corner of second and delaware streets, in the heart of colonial new castle.

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the terry house bed and breakfast on delaware street, dating back to 1860. new castle has several old bed & breakfasts, taverns, etc.

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some houses along delaware street.

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jessop's tavern on delaware street. the swedish, dutch, and british flags are flying to acknowledge the city's colonial past.

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a small colonial storage shed in a garden.

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the gunning bedford house. this house was the home of two of delaware's governors: gunning bedford, the 11th governor (january 1796 to september 1797), and caleb bennett, the 29th governor (january 1833 to july 1836).

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a little colonial garden next to a house on the strand.

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the delaware flag flies in the rain at a house on the strand.

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this is what our historical markers look like in delaware. you'll see these things all over the place in new castle. this one tells of some of the famous people that walked through packet alley (the alley with the ivory soap advertisement) over the years.

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the dutch house on 3rd street. this house dates back to the late 1600's, back when delaware was still a dutch possession. this house shows off the dutch influence in new castle, with dutch architecture and dutch influences on furniture and other belongings.

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the new castle academy on the left and immanuel episcopal church on the right. immanuel church was built in 1703, and the foundations and walls were used to rebuild it when it burned down in 1980. the new castle academy was built in 1798.

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this hexagonal building is the old library building, which housed the new castle library company. it was built in 1892.

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the amstel house, built in 1730. this early georgian mansion was the home of new castle's weathiest resident at the time, dr. john finney. the house was also the home of a delaware governor, george washington attended a wedding that was held in the parlor, and many signers of the declaration of independence met with friends here as well.

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Thanks for posting. New Castle is very pretty and I will bet a lot of people don't know about it.

Damn, I'd move there in a heartbeat! Is it very $$$?

Wow! Very nice looking place. :)

Absolutely beautiful. A stunning place indeed.

Damn, I'd move there in a heartbeat! Is it very $$$?

not quite sure of the average housing prices in old new castle, but i know of one historic house is on the market for $500,000. it has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, and 2250 sq ft.

New Castle certainly IS a gem.

Wish Wilmington were preserved more like New Castle.

the news journal ran an article in the life & leisure section about new castle in the old days. here are the pictures from the online version of the article.

http://vh10018.v1.moc.gbahn.net/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=BL&Date=20051114&Category=LIFE&ArtNo=511140310&Ref=AR&Profile=1005&title=1
A look inside the John F.Z. Clayton Store, circa 1928, reveals the kinds of goods available. Elizabeth Proud Clayton and husband John stand behind the counter, daughter Jeannette Emma (left) and neighbor Betty Jane White, both about 5 years old, stand surrounded by merchandise, including fresh fruit, soda, crackers, candy, canned fruit, coffee, soap, tobacco, gum, bleach, cookies and much more.

http://vh10018.v1.moc.gbahn.net/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=BL&Date=20051114&Category=LIFE&ArtNo=511140310&Ref=V1&Profile=1005&title=1
A recently discovered aerial view of New Castle was taken in February 1980. It reveals the aftermath of a fire at Immanuel Episcopal Church, as well as the compact nature of the historic district. The Arsenal stands at left in the foreground, with the Old Library behind the church ruins. The cupola of the Academy peeks out above the fire-damaged tower, and at top left are graves near St. Peter the Apostle Church.
you'll notive some of the buildings that i took pictures of are in this picture: immanueal episcopal church is the burned out building; the new castle academy is behind it; the arsenal is in the lower left corner; the old library building is across the street from the academy, with the white station wagon parked out front; and the dutch house is down the street from (to the left of) the library building, behind a tree.

http://vh10018.v1.moc.gbahn.net/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=BL&Date=20051114&Category=LIFE&ArtNo=511140310&Ref=V2&Profile=1005&title=1
The Good Will fire Company lined up its engines for this 1924 photograph. The company has held onto one of the vintage engines, the 1919 Ahrens-Fox at left. The engine underwent a complete, two-year restoration around 1990.


http://vh10018.v1.moc.gbahn.net/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=BL&Date=20051114&Category=LIFE&ArtNo=511140310&Ref=V3&Profile=1005&title=1
Travers Motors showcases the new line of Chevrolets for 1952. At left, the Suburban hints at the SUVs to come.


http://vh10018.v1.moc.gbahn.net/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=BL&Date=20051114&Category=LIFE&ArtNo=511140310&Ref=V4&Profile=1005&title=1
Aull’s Row, circa 1901, was a series of town houses, each slightly different.


http://vh10018.v1.moc.gbahn.net/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=BL&Date=20051114&Category=LIFE&ArtNo=511140310&Ref=V5&Profile=1005&title=1
"Images of America: New Castle" by Jim Travers (Arcadia, 2005, $19.99)


By CHRISTOPHER YASIEJKO
The News Journal
11/14/2005
Jim Travers, a financial services analyst and former professional photographer, threw himself into a recent project -- or, to be precise, he threw his boyhood home and his current house onto its pages.

Browsing the final product, "Images of America: New Castle" (Arcadia, 2005, $19.99), the references to his family actually are few. For example, the caption of "Old Library Sculpture Studio, 1960s," on page 80, reveals one of the four sculptors as Dorothy C. Travers-Davies, his mother.

But when Travers last fall embarked on the 127-page photographic biography of the 3.5-square-mile Colonial town, he was bound to happen upon forgotten pictures of places his family had known.

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Page 52 showcases an aerial photograph taken in 1925 of the estate Travers' parents bought in 1956 for about $28,000; in 1852, he says, it was sold for $14,000.

The next page features an aerial shot looking east toward the Delaware River on Labor Day, 1925. Delaware Street slices vertically through the center of the photo. Spot the intersection nearest the bottom of the picture -- that's Sixth Street -- and past the corner building and a small lot is a detached house. That's Travers' current home.

While working on the book, he visited Hagley Museum and Library, the Historical Society of Delaware, the New Castle Historical Society, the New Castle courthouse and the Delaware Public Archives in Dover and culled photos from friends and from his own collection. He spent more than two hours at each location, including about eight hours at the Delaware Public Archives.

He posted fliers throughout town, he says, "begging them to give me something." Nothing turned up. Since the book's publication, several people have offered to share their photos. But New Castle's deep history wasn't matched by an easily discovered cache of personal photographs.

"Frankly, New Castle people were not rich," Travers says. "They didn't take photos."

He saw the book as "an evergreen project," something that would remain in the community long after he's gone. Two other photography books about New Castle -- "New Castle on the Delaware," published by the New Castle Historical Society; and "A Day in Old New Castle," published by the Immanuel Episcopal Church -- are out of print.

The office of the mayor of New Castle, familiar with Travers' roots in the community and his experience with photography, directed Arcadia Publishing to Travers.

Arcadia has 16 Delaware-related books, with another four on the way. The publishing company relies on people like Travers to assemble similar local collections on histories, educational institutions, the military, sports, transportation, period books, vintage postcards and then-and-now.

Travers spent more than $1,000 on prints he found during his research. He also organized and designed the book's contents, and he wrote detailed captions that offer histories, updates and nuggets about tiny portions of the photos that otherwise might have been lost at a glance.

The design is straightforward, and most of the photographs are more documentary than artistic. But the thorough captions invite readers to revisit the accompanying photos with a more careful eye. Examining the book often feels like browsing through a localized -- and relevant -- version of "Where's Waldo?"

Travers cites as an influence the work of his friend James M. Goode, a former resident of New Castle who has authored photographic books about architecture in Washington, D.C., including "Capital Losses: A Cultural History of Washington's Destroyed Buildings," and "Best Addresses: A Century of Washington's Distinguished Apartment Houses."

"He just works as a bird dog," Travers says. "He basically points at a photo and says, 'See this? This is why it matters.' I'm not strictly imitating him, but I drew on that involvement between your head and your eyes."

Travers received no advance payment for his work, and he'll be compensated only through the royalties of its sales. But he didn't take on the project to enjoy a lucrative windfall.

"To me," he says, "it was a community giveback to some extent."
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051114/LIFE/511140310/1005

It reminds me of a Wolfville up here in Nova Scotia. Very pretty

Nice pics again matt. :)