Complicated Cultural Landscapes: The Read House and Old New Castle

42 The Strand,New Castle DE 19720

11 August, 2021

Description

Workshop and walking tour led by experts from the landscape architecture, archaeology, and museum communities Join us for a workshop and walking tour that looks outward from the George Read II House & Gardens, a National Historic Landmark owned by the Delaware Historical Society, where the many layers of New Castle history have accumulated above and below ground. From river to street grid, indigenous settlement to Swedish and Dutch colonies, and British port town to Colonial Revival tourist destination, New Castle's landscapes and narratives intertwine in complicated ways that continue to shape public and private landscape projects today. Landscape architects, homeowners, planners, and community officials alike will benefit from this exploration of the challenges and best practices associated with cultural landscapes. In discussing preservation and design professionals' responsibility to protect cultural landscape resources, workshop leaders will address how contemporary projects can benefit from the archaeological record as well as how they might disturb it. They will also consider the transformations that historic house museums continue to undergo, publicly and behind the scenes, to serve 21st-century communities. Space is limited. LACES™ credit available to landscape architects. A prix-fixe dinner will follow at Jessop's Tavern at an additional cost of $30. Workshop LeadersAndrea Anderson (Laboratory Manager, Department of Anthropology, University of Delaware) Wade Catts (President, South River Heritage Consulting) Michael Connolly (Executive Director, New Castle Historical Society) Lu Ann De Cunzo (Professor of Anthropology, University of Delaware) Brenton Grom (Director of the George Read II House & Gardens, Delaware Historical Society) Anna Wik (Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Delaware) Schedule3:45–4:00 Check-in and light refreshments (The Arsenal, 30 Market Street) 4:00–4:45 Overview of New Castle's changing cultural landscape from Lenape time to the present (The Arsenal) 4:45–5:30 Gardens of the George Read II House 5:30–7:00 Walking tour of Old New Castle focusing on archaeology and the cultural landscape 7:00 Optional prix-fixe dinner (Jessop’s Tavern, New Castle; additional charge) The Read House & Gardens is a National Historic Landmark in Old New Castle, DE, owned and operated by the Delaware Historical Society. It was built between 1797 and 1804 and remains one of the most spectacular Federal-period mansions in America.