Rockwood Park & Museum
Rockwood House, December 2010
TypePublic Park, Garden & Museum
Location4651 Washington Street Extension
Wilmington, Delaware 19809
Coordinates39°46′21″N 75°31′15″W / 39.77250°N 75.52082°W / 39.77250; -75.52082
Area29 hectares (72 acres)
Created1851-1854
Operated byNew Castle County
Open
Rockwood
Rockwood Museum and Park is located in Delaware
Rockwood Museum and Park
Rockwood Museum and Park is located in the United States
Rockwood Museum and Park
Location4651 Washington Street Extension, Wilmington, Delaware
Area162 acres (66 ha)
Built1851 (1851)-1854
ArchitectWilliams, George
Architectural styleGothic Revival, Rural Gothic
NRHP reference No.76000579[1]
100008808 (decrease)
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJuly 12, 1976
Boundary decreaseApril 19, 2023
StatusOpen Wednesday-Saturday:
Tours given Friday & Saturday at 10, 12 & 2

Rockwood is an English-style country estate and museum located in Wilmington, Delaware. Built between 1851 and 1854 by banker Joseph Shipley, Rockwood is an excellent example of Rural Gothic Revival Architecture.[2] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.[1]

History

Rockwood Mansion was built between 1851 and 1854 for Joseph Shipley, a merchant banker originally from Wilmington. The Mansion was Shipley's retirement home. Shipley spent most of his life in Liverpool, England where he became wealthy. Rockwood Mansion was inspired by Wyncote, Joseph Shipley's English country house designed by George Williams. Shipley had Williams design Rockwood Mansion, though he had never seen the site. Joseph Shipley moved his entire household from England bringing his favorite dog and horse (Toby and Branker), as well as gardener Robert Shaw and housekeeper Audrey Douglas.

After Joseph Shipley's death, Rockwood eventually became the property of his great nephew Edward Bringhurst Jr. in 1891. Bringhurst with his wife Anna and their three younger children Mary, Edith and Edward moved into Rockwood the next year. The Bringhurst's eldest daughter Elizabeth Bringhurst Galt-Smith, affectionately known as Bessie, was married and living in a castle in Ireland at the time. Bessie was responsible for much of the decorative features of the Mansion during this period. The mansion currently represents the 1890s when the Bringhurst family moved into Rockwood, including much of Joseph Shipley's furniture (imported from England) which was bought at the auction of his estate, and is still is in place at Rockwood.

The estate passed to Mary Bringhurst who lived to age 100, and left the mansion to her niece Nancy Sellers Hargraves, who left it to an unnamed non-profit "for the enjoyment of present and future generations." New Castle County received the mansion and acreage in 1973, with the Friends of Rockwood as caretakers. The mansion underwent extensive restoration by New Castle County in 1999. The 72 acres of Rockwood Mansion Park includes the Mansion & Conservatory, Porter's Lodge, Gardener's Cottage, and Barn & Carriage House.

Architecture

The Mansion was designed in the "Rural Gothic" style by English architect George Williams. The Rural Gothic was the most up-to-date style at the time, and took its inspiration from rural domestic buildings of 400 years earlier. The best known Rural Gothic home is William Morris' Red House, built in 1860 in England. The style avoided all the tracery and pinnacles that made Gothic Revival buildings look like churches. Rural Gothic was rather plain, and avoided symmetry.

The six acre historic garden of Rockwood, extent from the early 1850s, is surrounded by a ha-ha (a sunken wall used on English estates instead of a fence to keep livestock away from the house, so it appears that the lawns are continuous). The landscape at Rockwood is referred to as Mixed Style, then very much in favor, a style which combined all the best features of the broader English Naturalistic style, which began in the 1730s. This style is characterized by wide open lawns. sweeping vistas, curving paths, and trees and shrubs bordering the lawn. The landscape underwent extensive restoration in 1999, based on the many receipts for plants, as well as extensive historic photographs.[3][4]

In 2009 the University of Delaware acquired Rockwood's archives as a gift from New Castle County.[5]

On television

Rockwood was featured on an episode of My Ghost Story airing on the Biography Channel on October 29, 2011.[6] The mansion was also featured on a season 11 episode of Ghost Hunters.

Tours

The Mansion is open 10am to 4pm Wednesday through Saturday, tours are currently available on Fridays and Saturdays at 10am, 12pm & 2pm. Tours are $10 for adults, and $4 for children. The Park has lighted walking trails, and the park is open dawn to dusk, daily. Trail maps and self-guided Historic Landscape Garden tour brochures are available at the mansion Wednesday - Sunday 10am - 4pm. The Mansion is closed on major holidays.[7]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ↑ Richard E. May and Gary Smith (January 1976). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Rockwood". and Accompanying six photos
  3. ↑ Rockwood. The Brandywine, retrieved January 29, 2012
  4. ↑ Mullin, Timothy J.. (2007). Rockwood: Joseph Shipley’s English Estate in Brandywine Hundred, Delaware. Delaware History, 31 (spring/summer 2006).
  5. ↑ University of Delaware Library Receives Rockwood Archives. University of Delaware, retrieved January 29, 2012
  6. ↑ “Haunted” Delaware mansion making TV debut. Delaware Online, retrieved January 29, 2012
  7. ↑ Rockwood Park & Museum - Visitor Information & Hours of Operation. The NCCDE Website, retrieved December 14, 2011

References

  • Vincent, Gilbert T. (1998). Romantic Rockwood: A Rural Gothic Villa Near Wilmington, Delaware. Wilmington, Del.: Friends of Rockwood, Inc. ISBN 1892420589.
  • Mullin, Timothy J.. (2007). Rockwood: Joseph Shipley's English Estate in Brandywine Hundred, Delaware. Delaware History, 31 (spring/summer 2006).
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