Rockwood Museum and Park facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Rockwood Park & Museum |
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Rockwood House, December 2010
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| Type | Public Park, Garden & Museum |
| Location | 4651 Washington Street Extension Wilmington, Delaware 19809 |
| Area | 29 hectares (72 acres) |
| Created | 1851-1854 |
| Operated by | New Castle County |
| Open | |
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Rockwood
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| Location | 4651 Washington Street Extension, Wilmington, Delaware |
| Area | 162 acres (66 ha) |
| Built | 1851-1854 |
| Architect | Williams, George |
| Architectural style | Gothic Revival, Rural Gothic |
| NRHP reference No. | 76000579 100008808 (decrease) |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | July 12, 1976 |
| Boundary decrease | April 19, 2023 |
| Status | Open Wednesday-Saturday: Tours given Friday & Saturday at 10, 12 & 2 |
Rockwood is a beautiful old estate and museum in Wilmington, Delaware. It looks like a grand English country home! A wealthy banker named Joseph Shipley built it between 1851 and 1854. Rockwood is a great example of a style called Rural Gothic Revival Architecture. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, which means it's a very important historical site.
Contents
History of Rockwood Estate
Building the Mansion
Rockwood Mansion was built from 1851 to 1854. It was created for Joseph Shipley, a banker who grew up in Wilmington. Mr. Shipley had lived most of his life in Liverpool, England, where he became very rich. Rockwood Mansion was meant to be his retirement home.
The design for Rockwood Mansion was inspired by Mr. Shipley's English country house, Wyncote. An architect named George Williams designed both homes. Joseph Shipley even had Williams design Rockwood without seeing the land first! When Mr. Shipley moved to Delaware, he brought his whole household. This included his favorite dog, Toby, his horse, Branker, and his trusted gardener, Robert Shaw, and housekeeper, Audrey Douglas.
The Bringhurst Family Era
After Joseph Shipley passed away, his great-nephew, Edward Bringhurst Jr., took over Rockwood in 1891. Edward, his wife Anna, and their three younger children moved into the mansion the next year. Their oldest daughter, Elizabeth Bringhurst Galt-Smith, who everyone called Bessie, was already married. She lived in a castle in Ireland at that time.
Bessie helped a lot with decorating the mansion. Today, the mansion looks much like it did in the 1890s when the Bringhurst family lived there. Many of Joseph Shipley's original furniture pieces, brought from England, are still at Rockwood. The Bringhurst family bought them back at an auction after his death.
Rockwood Becomes a Public Park
The estate later went to Mary Bringhurst, who lived to be 100 years old! She left the mansion to her niece, Nancy Sellers Hargraves. Nancy then gave it to a non-profit group. This group wanted the estate to be enjoyed by everyone, now and in the future.
In 1973, New Castle County received the mansion and its land. The Friends of Rockwood group became its caretakers. The mansion was carefully restored by New Castle County in 1999. Rockwood Mansion Park covers 72 acres. It includes the Mansion, a Conservatory, Porter's Lodge, the Gardener's Cottage, and the Barn & Carriage House.
Architecture and Gardens
Mansion Design
The Rockwood Mansion was designed in a style called "Rural Gothic." An English architect named George Williams created it. This style was very modern for its time. It took ideas from country homes built about 400 years earlier.
Rural Gothic homes were usually simple and didn't have fancy decorations like church buildings. They also avoided being perfectly symmetrical, meaning one side wasn't an exact mirror of the other. A famous example of this style is the Red House in England, built in 1860.
Historic Gardens
Rockwood has a six-acre historic garden that dates back to the 1850s. It's surrounded by something called a ha-ha. A ha-ha is a sunken wall used on English estates. It keeps farm animals away from the house without needing a tall fence. This makes the lawns look like they stretch on forever!
The landscape at Rockwood is known as "Mixed Style." This style was very popular back then. It combined the best parts of the English Naturalistic style, which started in the 1730s. This means you'll see wide-open lawns, beautiful long views, curving paths, and trees and bushes around the edges of the grass. The garden was also carefully restored in 1999. This restoration used old plant receipts and many historic photos to make it look like it did long ago.
In 2009, the University of Delaware received Rockwood's old records and documents as a gift from New Castle County.
Rockwood on Television
Rockwood has even been on TV! It was featured on an episode of My Ghost Story. This episode aired on the Biography Channel on October 29, 2011. The mansion also appeared in a season 11 episode of Ghost Hunters.
Visiting Rockwood
Tour Information
The Rockwood Mansion is open from 10 AM to 4 PM, Wednesday through Saturday. Guided tours are available on Fridays and Saturdays at 10 AM, 12 PM, and 2 PM. Tours cost $10 for adults and $4 for children.
Park Access
The park itself has lighted walking trails. It is open every day from dawn until dusk. You can find trail maps and brochures for a self-guided tour of the Historic Landscape Garden. These are available at the mansion from Wednesday to Sunday, 10 AM to 4 PM. The Mansion is closed on major holidays.
See also
