News from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
February 7, 2008
Volume 38, Number 54

 

Contact: Elaine Brenchley or  Nate Davidson, First State Heritage Park at Dover, phone: (302) 739-9194 or Necia Beck, Delaware State Parks, phone: (302) 739-9175

 

First State Heritage Park Celebrates Presidents Day with Living History Presentation about George Washington’s Servants and Slaves

 

Dover, Del. - The First State Heritage Park at Dover will celebrate Presidents Day on Feb. 18 with a free living history presentation, “The Servants and Slaves of George Washington,” at 12:30 p.m. in Legislative Hall, 411 Legislative Avenue in Dover.

 

Presented by historical interpreter Noah Lewis, this program

traces the lives of the servants and slaves who worked under George Washington at Mount Vernon. This living history performance explores their complex relationships while challenging the audience to examine the issue of slavery as it pertained to one of our founding fathers.

 

Other Presidents Day highlights presented by the First State Heritage Park are guided tours of Legislative Hall, Delaware’s state capitol building, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and a guided walking tour of The Green led by an historical interpreter at 2 p.m. There is no charge for either tour.

 

All First State Heritage Park sites are open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Presidents Day, including the Delaware Public Archives, the Delaware Visitor Center and Galleries, the Biggs Museum of American Art, the Delaware Archaeology Museum, the Museum of Small Town Life, and the Johnson Victrola Museum. Admission to all sites is free.

 

To download a map of First State Heritage Park sites and a program guide, visit www.destateparks.com/heritagepark. For directions or for more information, call 302-739-9194.

 

Established by Governor Ruth Ann Minner in 2004, The First State Heritage Park at Dover is a partnership of state agencies, under the leadership of Delaware State Parks, working in collaboration with city and county government, nonprofit organizations and the private sector to create Delaware’s first urban “park without boundaries” linking historic and cultural sites in the city that has been the seat of state government since 1777.