While visiting the Brandywine Valley, Mr. Q and I stopped in at Buckley’s Tavern in Centreville, Delaware.

It was a charming little place located in what was once a private home built in 1817.

I had what I consider to be the best chicken pot pie of my life there.

But the real bonus was our waiter.

Somehow he and Mr. Q got to chatting about the Brandywine Battlefield, and war games, and painted gaming miniatures … all stuff Mr. Q is into, and so was the waiter.  He also gave us some great advice on places to visit in the area.  On his advice we spent a lovely evening at Birmingham Hill, one of the battle sites, but more on that in a future post.

He also suggested we visit historic New Castle.  He described it as a more authentic, less touristy version of Colonial Williamsburg.

The Dutch West India Company established a fort in this spot along the Delaware River in 1651, so that gives you an idea how old the area is. During the next 31 years, New Castle was alternately governed by the Dutch, Swedish, and British, changing hands five times.

Our first stop was the New Castle Visitor’s Center where we picked up a map for a self-guided walking tour of the town.

We started off heading down this amazing cobblestone road …

to the Immanuel Church and its churchyard.

I suppose some might find it a bit creepy, but I love a really old cemetery like this one.  It’s so interesting to read the tombstones.  Poor Thomas Bird lost his wife when she was only 21 years old.

After exiting the churchyard, we headed towards The Dutch House.  Unfortunately it was not open for tours the day we were there (it’s only open on Saturday and Sunday), but the staff at the Visitor Center told us we could wander through the gardens both here and at the Amstel House (also not open inside).

I have to admit, I took a few photos of each garden, but looking back at them I’m not sure which is which.  I think the one above is the Dutch House garden, while these next few photos are of the Amstel House garden.

Look, they had clematis blooming already!

There was one historic home open for tours the day we visited, the Read House.  However, after making two thwarted attempts to see it we gave up.  The first time we stopped by there was a small tour group in front of the house and the guide quite abruptly informed us that it was a private tour and we’d need to come back in another hour.  The 2nd time we stopped by there was no one at the ticket counter and after waiting about 5 minutes for someone to show up, we moved on to Packet Alley.

This is where packet boats from Philadelphia met stage coaches bound for French Town.  Travelers heading from Philadelphia to Baltimore would take a packet boat to New Castle, board a stage coach for the 16 mile journey to French Town, and then board another boat to Baltimore, and this trip took several days.

In 1832 the road between New Castle and French Town was turned into a railway line and the ticket office is still standing.

We also saw the Old Town Hall.

It was built in 1798 and is a “head house”, which is a building that served as a town hall in front of a series of market stalls that stretched behind it and could be accessed through that arched opening.  My photo above shows the back of the building, so I’m standing where the market stalls would have been.

I did enjoy checking out a few of the window boxes in New Castle.

They weren’t quite as impressive as the Charleston window boxes that I shared back in 2022, but they were still worth a photo or two.

I did particularly like these pots …

and now I’m wondering if I can do something similar in my own rusty pots this year (FYI, the Dwarf Alberta Spruce spirals that I put in them last year did not survive our harsh winter).

We ended our visit to New Castle with lunch at Jessop’s Tavern.

The tavern is located in a building built in 1674.  According to their website, they “strive to be reflective of the American food history that shaped what we eat today, representative of the English, Dutch, Belgian, and Swedish presence in this region.”

We ordered the Oli Bolen, a.k.a. Dutch Apple Cakes, for dessert.

And they were delicious!

We really enjoyed our visit to New Castle.  We felt like we practically had the entire town to ourselves, granted we were there on a Thursday morning in May so it wasn’t quite tourist season yet.  I assume it gets quite a bit busier on nice summer weekends.

Have you ever been to New Castle, Delaware?  Or do you have another favorite historic town?  Leave a comment and let me know.