Founding principles feel present, still, in venerable New Castle, Delaware. Literally on the banks of the Delaware River, famed as William Penn’s landing place. But when the Swedes arrived around 1638, this bucolic spot was home to legendary Lenapes.
Brick sidewalks thread through brick neighborhoods. Flags are as likely to bear thirteen stars as the sharp angles notorious as the British banner (proudly displayed to left, below.)
A far cry, this joining of emblems, from the high spirits of the Founding Fathers hammering out a country in nearby Philadelphia; debating, and then signing, the Declaration of Independence.
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That Declaration and our Constitution remain living, yes, sacred, documents to me! Democracy was the fruit of their labors, and where is it now?
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To my great delight, Revolutionary history is EVERYWHERE. Here we read of (my hero!) Lafayette’s having given the bride away in this church:
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Buildings echo Philadelphia’s most venerable. Here, both country’s flags blow in a July wind off the adjacent Delaware River.
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Venerable signs have faded on vintage buildings. It’s eerie to see Coca Cola as a vestige of some storied past.
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Here and there, one passes “packet alleys” — long slopes, brick-lined, leading to the Delaware. Here, clipper ships had landed. Along these time-worn ramps, ‘stores’, –ships’ provisions–, had been tugged into the commercial part of town, by four-legged and two-legged creatures. At one time, an epidemic closed the major port of Philadelphia. New Castle had to step into the breach until a change of season brought a change of health.
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SHIP’S MODEL IN WINDOW OF HISTORIC JESSOP’S TAVERN
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THE SHADOWS KNOW… What stories these rooms could tell…
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“O, Say, Can You See?”
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PORT OF CALL
COMMERCIAL DELAWARE, DELAWARE MEMORIAL BRIDGE TO NEW JERSEY
YOU, TOO, CAN OWN A STORIED INN
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THOMAS JEFFERSON ALE, JESSOP’S TAVERN OF NEW CASTLE —
300-year-old building
From “Delaware, 200 Years Ago”, by Harold B. Hancock, “New Castle remained the county seat, but it lost out in trade and population to Wilmington… Visitors in the port [of New Castle] considered it a town of lost importance.” In 1785, New Castle was described as “a little, insignificant town.” There were predictions that it would “bloom again” And bloom it does for this traveler, in search of the courage, honor, dignity of Revolutionary Days, in a setting of unparalleled early beauty and taste.
When Lafayette and Jefferson join me on my history treks, I ask no greater boon.
