Contact: Elaine Brenchley, First State Heritage Park at Dover, phone: (302) 739-4413 , e-mail: elaine.brenchley@state.de.us
 

CIVIL WAR RE-ENACTORS RESCHEDULED DUE TO WEATHER, BUT OTHER “FIRST SATURDAY IN THE FIRST STATE” ACTIVITIES TO PROCEED AS PLANNED

Due to rain and thunderstorms forecast for Saturday, April 2, The First State Heritage Park at Dover is canceling the outdoor program featuring Civil War re-enactors from Fort Delaware. The program has been rescheduled for Memorial Day, Monday, May 30.

All other First Saturday activities will proceed on schedule as planned, including historic interpreters in period clothing at the Old State House offering special tours about the Civil War.

The sites linked by The First State Heritage Park at Dover include Legislative Hall, Delaware Public Archives, the Old State House Museum and other Delaware State Museums sites, and the Biggs Museum of American Art. Tours and exhibits will be offered at all the sites which are open Saturday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Admission is free. Centrally located free parking is available at the Delaware Public Archives, 121 Duke of York Street.

The First State Heritage Park at Dover is an interagency partnership between the Delaware Department of State, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, and the Delaware Economic Development Office. Governor Ruth Ann Minner created the First State Heritage Park Task Force by executive order in April 2004.

For more information about April’s First Saturday programs, the public may call 302-739-1173.

If You Go:
LEGISLATIVE HALL, Legislative Avenue
PHOTO ID IS REQUIRED FOR ENTRY TO LEGISLATIVE HALL.

1:00 p.m.: Lee Jennings, Delaware State Parks historian
“The Four-Way Horse Race: The Presidential Election of 1860”
A discussion of Delaware's political response to Secession, focusing on events leading up to the 1860 election and the outbreak of the Civil War. Key Delaware legislators and their positions on these events of 1860 will be introduced. Photographs and documents of the era will be on exhibit.

Guided tours begin hourly, 9 a.m. through 4 p.m. The tour includes the General Assembly
chambers, the governor’s ceremonial office, the portrait gallery of Delaware’s governors and
military heroes, Jack Lewis murals and Delaware State Museums’ exhibit of a selection of items
recovered from the De Braak shipwreck.


DELAWARE PUBLIC ARCHIVES, 121 Duke of York Street

10:30 – 11:15 a.m.: DOCUMENTARY MOVIE SERIES
The Road is Open Again (1933)
In this brief depression era film, a songwriter falls asleep while writing a song about the National Recovery Administration. He dreams that Presidents Washington, Lincoln and Wilson appear in his room, asking him why he wants to write such a song and reassuring him that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is on the right path. When he starts singing his new song, he finds himself alone, but he knows that FDR will lead the United States back on the road to prosperity. (Five minutes)

The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936)
The Plow that Broke the Plains is the classic film about the Dust Bowl directed by Pare Lorentz. Produced by the Resettlement Administration, it has been one of the most widely praised and studied documentaries in America. (29 minutes)

The Bill of Rights Returns Again to Delaware
The “Jewel Box” at the Archives features a return visit of Delaware’s copy of the Bill of Rights, Permanently housed at the National Archives, it returned to Delaware in 2003 for the first time since 1789. Through a 25-year agreement with the National Archives, the state's copy of the Bill of Rights will reside in Delaware from December 7 (Delaware Day) to July 4 each year, returning to the National Archives for conservation work during the intervening time. While it is here, it is being stored and displayed under strictly regulated humidity, temperature and lighting conditions. Security surrounding the iconic document is also tight. It is contained in a protective case and an armed guard will stand watch whenever it is on display. The case is housed inside a safe, which will be secured after exhibition hours. Motion detectors and other intruder-detection sensors protect the safe itself.

DELAWARE STATE MUSEUMS
Delaware State Visitors Center, 406 Federal Street

Special Exhibition: Stitches of Art and Comfort: Delaware Quilts, 1740-2002
The American tradition of quilting is celebrated in this display of 100 unique Delaware-made quilts whose colors and patterns provide clues to the history and culture of the state, the region and the nation from the 18th century to the present. The quilts featured in this newly opened exhibition have been selected from the permanent collection of Delaware State Museums and include eight quilts on loan.

Featuring quilts from all the recognized period styles of quilt history and representing all areas of the state of Delaware, each piece reflects the personality and passion of its maker. Quilts were made to commemorate births, engagements, marriages, friendships, partings and deaths – serving as a remembrance of an event.

State House Museum on The Green: Historic interpreters in period clothing offer special tours about Dover and the Civil War.

Museums Square, Bank Lane and New Street:
• Johnson Victrola Museum: Special focus tours about the opera “Madame Butterfly”
• Archaeology Museum
• Museum of Small Town Life


THE BIGGS MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, 406 Federal Street

Special Exhibition: Edward W. Redfield: Just Values and Fine Seeing
A retrospective exhibition of works by Bridgeville native and leading Pennsylvania Impressionist artist, Edward W. Redfield. Features 20 works spanning the artist's career. The exhibition runs through April 26 and includes student drawings, a personal journal, seascapes, a cityscape, as well as the Bucks County seasonal landscapes for which he is best remembered. Craft items produced by Redfield also will be on view.

BIGGS KIDS 2:00 p.m. “Landscapes Galore!” On the first Saturday of each month, the Biggs Museum offers special programs designed for children ages 5 to 10. Hands-on activities and fun for the whole family. April’s theme is landscapes. Kids will learn about different kinds of landscape paintings and make one of their own to take home.

 

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