On Saturday, June 15, 2013, from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the John Dickinson Plantation, located at 340 Kitts Hummock Road in Dover, DE 19901, will present “Shall Faithfully Serve!,” a day-long series of activities exploring 18th-century indentured servitude at the country estate of John Dickinson, one of the founding fathers of the United States and “Penman of the Revolution.”

 Participants in “Shall Faithfully Serve!” activities will symbolically sign an indenture form with a quill pen, after which they will experience tasks associated with 18th-century trades and occupations including the carding, spinning and weaving of wool for cloth production; and various jobs centered around plantation life such as collecting kindling for the smokehouse and cleaning. During their free time, participants will have a chance to play Colonial games, enjoy a house tour or explore the grounds. The plantation will also be open for visitation and tours from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Admission for all of the day’s activities is free and open to the public. For additional information, call 302-739-3277.

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Contact:
Jim Yurasek
Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs
Phone:  302-736-7413
E-mail:  Jim.Yurasek@delaware.gov
Web:   http://history.delaware.gov

On Saturday, June 1, 2013 at 1 and 3 p.m., The Old State House, located at 25 The Green in Dover, DE 19901, will present “The Trial of William Penn,” a historical play about the future founder of Pennsylvania’s 1670 trial on charges of “fomenting an unlawful and tumultuous assembly” by preaching to a group of Quakers on a London street. Admission to the museum, which will also be open for tours between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., is free and open to the public. For additional information, call 302-744-5055.

Adapted from “The Tryal of William Penn and William Mead” by Mary DeAngelis and Margo Gulati, the play depicts Penn’s prosecution and the jury that was imprisoned when they would not find him guilty as charged. Issues of religious freedom, the writ of habeas corpus and jury nullification are explored during the course of the 30-minute performance which features the audience serving as members of the jury. As English courts of old were far less civil than the courts in America today, audience members will be asked to join in on the court proceedings with the following cheers: “Hear him, hear him!,” “Let him speak!,” “Our brother speaks the truth!,” “Huzzah!,” and “God save the Magna Carta”; and the following jeers: “Tyranny!,” “Boo!,” “Hiss!,” “It’s unlawful” and “The curse of Cromwell be upon you”!

Actors will include community members David Brown and Mike Cordeiro of Dover and Jim Whisman of New Castle, as well as Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs’ historic-site interpreters Jackie Collins, Susan Emory, Dennis Fisher, Chris Hall, Gavin Malone, David Price, Thomas Pulmano, Bill Sparke, Bob Vander Decker and Tom Welch.

Completed in 1791, The Old State House is one of the oldest buildings of its kind in the nation. The first floor features an 18th-century-style courtroom that was originally designed for legal proceedings similar to those utilized in the trial of William Penn. The second floor features chambers for the state’s Senate and House of Representatives. The building is situated on Dover’s historic Green, a public area designated by William Penn in 1683 after his arrival in America.

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Contact:
Jim Yurasek
Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs
Phone:  302-736-7413
E-mail:  Jim.Yurasek@delaware.gov
Web:   http://history.delaware.gov

During the month of June, the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs will be sponsoring 18 special programs at the six museums that it operates across the state.

Highlights of the month include “Shall Faithfully Serve!,” a June 15 program exploring indentured servitude at the John Dickinson Plantation. Program participants will symbolically sign an indenture form with a quill pen, after which they will be assigned 18th century chores such as gardening; preparing wool for spinning, weaving and carding; kindling gathering for the smokehouse and cleaning. During their free time, participants will have a chance to play colonial games, enjoy a house tour or explore the plantation grounds.

On June 1, The Old State House will present “The Trial of William Penn,” a living-history theater presentation exploring the prosecution of William Penn and the jury that went to jail when they would not find him guilty as charged.

Also on June 1, the First State Heritage Park Welcome Center and Galleries will utilize the exhibit “Dealing in Symbols: Profundity and the Human Figure” as a backdrop for guided tours that explore the life and work of the noted Wilmington sculptor Charles Parks and his contributions to American art.

Go to the following for a complete listing of events. Except where noted, programs are free and open to the public. For additional information, call 302-744-5055.

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Contact:
Jim Yurasek
Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs
Phone:  302-736-7413
E-mail:  Jim.Yurasek@delaware.gov
Web:   http://history.delaware.gov

Mankind’s age-old quest to understand the air and space and to travel through them will be brought to life during Delaware’s 15th annual Chautauqua tent show, “America Takes Flight,” that will take place at a variety of downtown Lewes, Del. locations from June 9–13, 2013. Go to the following for a complete schedule of events. Admission is free and open to the public. For additional information, call 302-645-1148 or visit the Zwaanendael Museum on the Web.

A unique mixture of education and entertainment, Lewes’ Chautauqua will be held under a large tent and will feature re-enactors who take on the personas of celebrated historical figures, educating and entertaining audiences as they bring the past to life. Audience members are encouraged to ask questions and interact with the featured characters who will include Amelia Earhart; the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei; Bessie Coleman, the first African-American female pilot; and Charles Lindbergh.

Chautauqua takes its name from a series of adult education programs that were first held at a campsite on the shores of Lake Chautauqua in upstate New York during the late 19th century. Chautauquas spread throughout America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries bringing speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers, preachers and specialists of the day to a wide cross-section of the nation’s rural and small-town population. Circuit Chautauquas (or colloquially, Tent Chautauquas) were an itinerant manifestation of the movement. Programs would be presented in tents pitched in a field near town. After several days, the Chautauqua would fold its tents and move on to the next community. The popularity of Chautauquas peaked in the mid-1920s, after which radio, movies and automobiles brought about the gradual disappearance of the movement by the 1940s.

 Reborn in the 1970s as a vehicle for humanities education, modern Chautauquas are organized around a core program in which re-enactors portray celebrated historical figures, speaking and interacting with audiences, often in the setting of a large outdoor tent. Modern Chautauquas have been presented annually in Delaware since 1999 featuring a wide variety of historical figures including John Philip Sousa, the Lone Ranger, Edgar Allan Poe, Eleanor Roosevelt, Dolley Madison, and Delaware’s own Clifford Brown and Caesar Rodney. In 2013, Delaware’s Chautauqua tent show is being co-sponsored by the Lewes Historical Society, the Lewes Chamber of Commerce and the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs.

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Contact:
Jim Yurasek
Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs
Phone:  302-736-7413
E-mail:  Jim.Yurasek@delaware.gov
Web:   http://history.delaware.gov

Beginning on June 3, 2013 and continuing through Oct. 14, 2013, the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs will offer regularly scheduled Monday lecture/tours of the hull of His Majesty’s Sloop DeBraak, a British warship that was escorting and protecting a convoy of British and American merchant ships en route to the United States when it was capsized and lost off the Delaware coast on May 25, 1798.

 Lecture/tours, which are limited to 10 visitors per program, will take place at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on the following Mondays during 2013: June 3, 17 and 24; July 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29; Aug. 5, 12, 19 and 26; Sept. 9, 16, 23 and 30; and Oct. 7 and 14. (No programs will take place on June 10 or Sept. 2.)

 All lecture/tours begin at the Zwaanendael Museum, located at 102 Kings Highway in Lewes, DE 19958, where a lecture on the ship will be presented in conjunction with “A Seaborne Citizenry: The DeBraak and Its Atlantic World,” an exhibit that has been on display at the museum since Dec. 1, 2012. The exhibit tells the story of the vessel, its crew and the historical context within which it operated in the late 18th century. Ticket holders will then be transported, via van, to the DeBraak hull facility in nearby Cape Henlopen State Park for a curator-led tour of the surviving section of the ship’s hull.

 Nonrefundable tickets for the lecture/tours are $10 per person (restricted to persons aged 10 and above) and are available through the Shop Delaware website (http://shop.delaware.gov/). For additional information, call 302-645-1148.

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Contact:
Jim Yurasek
Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs
Phone:  302-736-7413
E-mail:  Jim.Yurasek@delaware.gov
Web:   http://history.delaware.gov