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New Castle, Delaware is the oldest surviving town in the Delaware Valley. New Castle began life as a Dutch fort in 1651 and the town was laid out in 1655. The settlement on the Delaware River was a flash point for disagreements between the Dutch and Swedish settlers until the English took control of the entire area in the 1660s. William Penn came to America to claim his enormous land grant in 1682 and landed in New Castle. He found the townsfolk none to receptive to his Quaker rule and Penn stayed only one day before moving up the river to found Philadelphia. Until Philadelphia matured as a city, New Castle was the biggest town on the Delaware River.
New Castle was the first capital of the Delaware colony but a kidnapping of the governor made it prudent to move the seat of government in 1777 to a safer inland location. Two of Delaware's three signers of the Declaration of Independence hailed from New Castle. New Castle served as the eastern terminus for the New Castle-Frenchtown Turnpike, a 16-mile road to the Chesapeake Bay and in 1832 the New Castle-Frenchtown became one of America's first railways. But in the 1840s the main overland rail route bypassed New Castle and the town's decline began.
As commerce and people departed town, the historic brick buildings remained. The preservation movement in America began in the early 20th century and New Castle was rediscovered in the 1920s. Beginning in 1924, A Day in Old New Castle began a tradition of touring the town's colonial homes and gardens. Unlike many colonial towns, New Castle is neither reconstructed or a preserved historical district. It is a fully residential town roughly five blocks wide by two blocks long. On this one day, residents open their private, historic homes to the public for tours.
Originally the finest homes in New Castle were built several blocks from the water on the common, known as the Green. Later, it became fashionable to build mansions overlooking the water, formerly an undesirable wharf district. Today, those homes are located on the first street back from the Delaware River, known as the Strand. Notable private homes on the Strand are the McWilliams House, the oldest house on the block, and the yellow Gunning Bedford House, behind whose Grecian door was once the Farmers Bank.
The most magnificent house on the Strand is the Read House, and it was built as such. George Read II, Whose father was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a lawyer whose achievements fell quite short of his illustrious namesake. Pompous, not well-liked and desirous of building a great house to increase his stature, George Read II set out to build the biggest house in Delaware in 1801. He spent $11,000 to transport the best wood, marble and brick (250,000 of them) from Philadelphia. He lavished great attention to detail throughout the 14,000 square feet of living space in creating one of the finest examples of Federal architecture in America. The Read House, in the center of the Strand, is open to the public.
Around the Green are several historic buildings open to the public. The Court House was the meeting place of the Colonial Assembly for 72 years prior to the Revolution. The Declaration of Independence was approved here. The Presbyterian Church was an early Georgian brick church built in 1707 and the Immanuel Episcopal Church was started in 1703. It has been rebuilt from a 1980 fire. The town police station is housed in an ornate Italianate brownstone. The Green was once fenced in with grazing sheep and every Thursday was 'whipping day' at the town whipping post.
On the far side of the green is the Dutch House, tracing its origins to the late 17th century. This venerable house exhibits early Dutch furniture and decorative arts and is also open to the public. There are several restaurants and shops in Old New Castle as well or visitors can enjoy a picnic lunch along the Delaware River in Battery Park.
A Day in Old New Castle is held each year in May.
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