A View of The Town of New Castle From The River Delaware, -- Taken the 4th July 1797 -- By Ives le Blanc New Castle History Jim Meek G18-- Spring 2015 Course web site: hp://nc-chap.org/osher [email protected] hp://nc-chap.org Currently > 3,000 pages, files and images! History, guidebooks, archaeology, maps, aerial photos, Portraits, Census and tax records Stage coaches, railroad and railroad engine manuf… Churches: Lutheran, Presbyt. Episcopal, Quaker, Methodist Women in Ft. Casimir Virtual tours Oral History, Post cards Fiber, iron and steel industries Day in Old New Castle “Williamsburg on the Delaware” Crime & punishment: hanging, scarlet leers, whipping And growing… wherever my curiousity takes me (Web storage is cheap, I like to share informaon) hp://nc-chap.org/osher Schedule subject to change! If you’re interested in a topic, Check the weekly lisng, If people want to follow up on topics, send me an email and I will try to provide links [email protected] Tenta;ve lecture plan 1. Introducon, Why study New Castle, History to 1702, DATES, MAPS, FORTS, LEADERS, trade, food, drink, beer, English/Dutch/Swedish/Quakers, what it looked like, The Common, Architecture: Early Georgian 2. History to 1800, Shipping, pirates real and fake, privateers, the Baery, RUM, French & Indian war, Revoluon, loss of state capitol, the Market, Architecture: Early & Mid Georgian 3. History to 1950; War of 1812, Arsenal, Great Fire of 1824;NC&FT RR; Civil War, industrializaon, loss of transportaon hub; loss of county seat, Architecture: Federal 4. People to 1860; Stuyvesant, Clays, Van Dykes, Rosses, Reeds; “What Women Wore”, Architecture: Greek Revival 5. People aer 1860; slavery, adultery, crime and punishment; punishment as entertainment, hanging, whipping, poor houses, branding, scarlet leers; “Taverns and Tippling Houses”; Architecture: Victorian 6. Architecture: recognion of styles, styles in New Castle 7. Virtual tours of Dutch & Amstel House (and Read House and Courthouse); Architecture: what is Dutch/English 8. Maps of the town: Blaney, Latrobe, Beers, Sanborn, Baist 9. Virtual tours of the town: walking tours of downtown & Baery park; drones 10. Industry: RR engines, steel, woolen coon mills, Bellanca aircra 11. -13. Transportaon, Trustees, Fraternal Organizaons, Churches, Graveyards, Schools, Music, Library, Gas, Water … Lecture 1: Why talk about New Castle? What do others say about it? New Castle history before 1702 Dates, Places, Maps, Forts, Charters, people, fooD, traDe, religion, sickness, hunger, beer, Wm. Penn, Columbus* Why talk about New Castle? “A Town Like No Other” Great Courses A Town Among Ciges, 1983, Constance Cooper, Ph. D. Thesis “…an old town that finds its limits in a new and apparently limitless naon” 350 Years of New Castle, Delaware, 2001, Cooper “…one of Delaware’s oldest, most significant and most beauful towns” Architectural Descripon 1926 New Castle Delaware, A Walk Through Time, 2011, Benson & Hoffecker Historic American Towns along the Atlanc Coast W.Boeschenstein 1999 NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE an EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY Town By Wm. D. FOSTER White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs 1926 THERE are few communies to-day which have retained their early American flavor as completely as has New Castle, Delaware. The examples of our colonial architecture in such centers as Boston and Philadelphia and even in Balmore are so surrounded by present-day business, or lie isolated without any surroundings, that they can give lile of the feeling of the actual community which existed when they were built… While there are some factories with their resultant nondescript housing, they are all grouped near the branch-line railroad which comes in to the west of the town proper. The compact older poron is sll complete and removed from too much " progress.” … There is, moreover, another reason for the probable permanence of the town as it now stands, in that there is a real pride and understanding in the community of the architectural heritage represented by these buildings, an appreciaon of tradion which is in resul contrast to the incessant changes which are sweeping away so much of our colonial background. New Castle, A Walk Through Time Benson & Hoffecker, 2011 New Castle is an extraordinary town, an early outpost of European explorers and selers and a colonial capital beaufully situated on one of America's great rivers. In a compact space it provides an unusual richness of architecture that spans more than three centuries. Somemes people say that New Castle is so beauful because it is a town that me forgot, but that isn't exactly true … the town itself is not a museum, nor is it a place that remains frozen in an earlier era. New Castle has changed over me, so you cannot literally step back into its. past. There is much you can no longer see, or smell, or hear. … But with the conjuring trick of your mind's eye, you can perhaps imagine those earlier mes as you read about New Castle's history and architecture, and walk through its streets ... Today its residents live twenty-first century lives while connuing a now 350-year-old tradion of building, preserving, adapng, even removing and altering their world. ….[it was] the most mulgcultural town in all of 17th century America. New Castle is the crown jewel of Delaware… Benson & Hoffecker, 2011 New Castle – an acve adult community But not limited to over 55 • Easy walk to library, post office, drugstore, senior center, parks, acvies, churches, restaurants • Strong sense of community • Housing is modest sized and affordable (maybe quirky) • Lile or no yard maintenance • Many younger cizens including young families • Safe, cute, interesng, picturesque Jim Meek Where to start? -- The usual beginning 1638 Swedes come on Kalmar Nyckel; founded Ft. Chrisna 1651 Stuyvesant founds Fort Casimir on South (Delaware) River Peter Stuyvesant ar. H. Couturier 1655 Swedes capture Ft. Casimir; Stuyvesant recaptures, names it New Amstel 1664 English capture New Amsterdam & New Amstel 1674 English recapture New Netherland from Dutch 1682 Wm. Penn arrives 1776 Revoluon declared on courthouse steps The Usual Beginning, not The Very Beginning 1609 H. Hudson 1625 Peter Minuit buys Manhaan for $25 1638 Swedes/Kalmar Nyckel 1651 Stuyvesant/Ft. Casimir 1655 Swedes/Ft. Trinity 1655 Amsterdam/New Amstel 1664 Duke of York/New Castle 1682 Grant to Wm. Penn Visscher map (1650/1685) John Smith map of Virginia (1608/1612) • Influenced Hudson’s 1609 voyage • Chesapeack Bay Oriented Le to right – as you read or would enter • Note Tockwoghs at head of bay • Best map of area unl Augusne Herman’s map (1660-1670) • 1632 charter of Maryland (Charles I to Cecil Calvert, Lord Balmore): from Potomac or Watkins Pt to 40th Parallel (including all of Delaware) Why did the Dutch want to come to North America? Seal of New York City Seal of New Netherlands Cruise liners “El Morro” San Juan Naonal Historical Park, Puerto Rico The Dutch West India Company was not just a warm and friendly trading company The WIC in 1625 was simultaneously seeking to expand trading areas in Manhaan, Delaware River and San Juan! Geoctroyeerde Wesgndische Compagnie The Very Beginning, or why the Dutch West India Company was part of the founding of Fort Casimir/New Amstel/New Castle <1650 >1650 1492-1508 Columbus discovered Puerto Rico, found gold, built fort, started colonizaon 1498 Pope gave Caribbean and West Coast of America to Spain; Portuguese got Brazil The Caribbean was a "closed sea” Trade was restricted to Spain 1500s Dutch and English came to Caribbean anyway to trade salt, hides, spices, dyewoods 1609 EAST India Company (VOC) hired Hudson to search for northwest passage; he discovered Delaware River 1621 WEST India company (WIC) founded for trading and for military aacks on Spain and Portuguese colonies 1625 WIC aacked Puerto Rico; couldn't get into the forts. Burned San Juan; built fort on South River (Delaware) 1628 WIC seized the Spanish silver fleet 1630 WIC conquered part of Brazil 1638 Former WIC Director General Peter Minuit arrives on Kalmar Nyckel to found New Sweden at The Rocks 1643 WIC names Peter Stuyvesant Director General of Dutch West Indies islands: Curacao, Aruba, Bonaire; later America 1651 Stuyvesant builds Ft. Casimir for WIC to counteract Swedish presence 3 degrees separaon from Columbus! 1664 English capture New Netherland including Ft. Casimir/New Amstel (2nd Anglo Dutch War) 1674 Treaty of Westminster (3rd Anglo Dutch War) England gets New York, New Castle, Dutch get Surinam , Caribbean islands Dutch Forts in New Netherlands Fort Nassau (1614), North River, Albany, New York, lost to floods Fort Orange (1624), North River, Albany, New York Peter Stuyvesant, ar. H. Couturier Director General from 1647 Fort Amsterdam (1625), the Manhaoes harbor at the mouth of the North River Fort Wilhelmus (1625), on the South River (near Trenton), soon abandoned Fort Nassau (ca. 1627), near Camden NJ, relocated 1651, becoming Fort Casimir Fort Huis de Goede Hoop (1633), near the Fresh River at Harord Fort Casimir (1651), New Castle, DE briefly known as Fort Trefaldighet (1654–1655) Fort Beversreede (1651), Schuylkill River, near Philadelphia Peter Stuyvesant , the West InDia Company anD Ft. Casimir/New Amstel 1643 Peter Stuyvesant director general of Dutch West Indies islands Peter Stuyvesant Curacao, Aruba, Bonaire ar. H. Couturier 1644 He lost right leg to a cannonball aacking Spanish-held Sint Maarten 1645 He became governor general of all Dutch possessions in North America and the Caribbean 1651 He founds Fort Casimir on South