History of Arasapha
and the Amstel and Dutch House Gardens
Undated photo of Amstel House parterre garden, probably from the late 1930s
1929: The New Castle Historical Society acquired Amstel House for a museum. The grounds were occupied by still-occupied "sheds," weeds, mangled concrete slabs, and shards of glass.
1931: At a card party in New Castle, Mrs. Caleb Layton, President of Brandywine Garden Club, was asked if her club might consider cleaning up and replanting the Amstel House garden. Brandywine Garden Club agreed to undertake this as its main project. Little did they know how complex and expensive it would become! When they first visited Amstel House, they were dismayed to find the garden filled not only with trash and weeds but also two shabby "sheds"--one a former bowling alley with a concrete slab floor in that needed to be removed and replaced with soil. A Victorian-era porch on the back of the house needed to be torn down.
A "New Castle Committee," sometimes referred to as "the New Castle Ladies," was formed to support the project. Several of its members would become founding members of Arasapha.
1932: Brandywine Garden Club researched colonial gardens and initially considered installing a Dutch garden at Amstel House because of the Dutch heritage of Nicholas Van Dyke, a Delaware governor who lived there in the late 1700s. But they eventually hired Charles Gillette, a Virginia landscape architect, who drew up elaborate Colonial Revival garden plans for Amstel House. Gillette supervised the work of installing the most of the walls around the garden, the parterre, and some of the grounds behind the parterre. The rest of the garden, including the garden house and the wall along Delaware Street, could not be installed because those grounds were still occupied by the two "sheds" housing a cobbler and the water commission. The club also reconstructed the kitchen's distinctive "squirrel tail" oven.
1933: In December, Brandywine Garden Club amalgamated with Wilmington Garden Club, which continued the project under the chairmanship of Jean Kane Foulke duPont, a noted philanthropist and suffragette.
1934: Arasapha was founded by Miss Mary E. Shaw, a lifelong resident of New Castle, at a meeting of 27 members in the Amstel House on January 25. Records of this meeting are lost, so we don't know why the name Arasapha was chosen (click here to learn what it might mean). There are conflicting records about the club's initial purpose. At a 1945 club meeting, a member read an excerpt from the (now lost) minutes of this first meeting, stating that the club's founding objectives were (1) transforming of unsightly spots in and around our city, (2) to promote a deeper sense of civic pride among fellow townspeople, and (3) instill into the mind of our young people the preservation of plant life. But a 1934 report to the Wilmington Garden Club said, "A Garden Club has been organized in New Castle to tend the Amstel House Garden and to promote the planting of old fashioned shrubs, flowers, and vines about the village yards and doorways." And a 1938 speech by Jean Kane Foulke duPont stated, "In 1934 the Arasapha Garden Club was organized, its chief objective being the care of the Amstel House Garden and of the Green and the grounds of other historical places in and about New Castle."
1934-1943: Club records from Arasapha's first decade are lost, but newspaper records from 1938-1943 and club minutes after 1943 suggest that the Wilmington Garden Club's view of Arasapha may have been wishful thinking. The club focused during this period on the founding objectives stated at that 1945 club meeting. Among its many accomplishments: It planted and maintained over 400 trees throughout the city; cleared and landscaped a dump on Ferry Cut-Off; landscaped and maintained the triangle at the intersection of Delaware Street and Ferry Cut-Off; and contributed funds toward the Battery Park playground. It sponsored an annual flower show for children, with prizes awarded for cut flowers and flower arrangements. The only mention of tending the Amstel House garden is in a 1937 Wilmington Garden Club report on the Amstel House garden that noted, "The New Castle ladies are assuming more and more responsibility about the care of the place." Miss Mary E. Shaw, founder of the club, chaired the club for its first nine years, through 1942, until declining health made it impossible for her to continue; she passed away in 1943.
1938: With long-awaited removal of the cobbler's "shed" in 1937, Wilmington Garden Club was finally able to construct portions of the Delaware Street wall and the garden house, largely from salvaged materials, and complete the garden's brick walks. Its Amstel House garden project was now concluded at an estimated total cost of $5000--the equivalent of over $85,000 today. On May 2, at a ceremony at the Amstel House, Wilmington Garden Club handed over the key to the garden to New Castle Historical Society, owner of the property, again with the understanding that Arasapha would "tend" the garden although, as already noted, it appears that Arasapha may not have assumed this responsibility until 1944. The Wilmington Garden Club also handed over bricks and $200 to complete the Delaware Street wall whenever the water commission vacated its property.
1939: The Delaware Society for the Preservation of Antiquities, which had purchased the Dutch House in 1937, hired Philadelphia landscape architects to design a plan for the Dutch House garden. The simple plan included a parterre flower garden to the left of the Dutch House; a brick terrace behind the Dutch House; and paths, garden beds and pear trees around the perimeter of a grass lawn. The parterre, terrace, and some of the brick paths still exist; the parterre is now a kitchen garden. Arasapha contributed an herb garden. We don't know what else in the plan was installed.
1931: At a card party in New Castle, Mrs. Caleb Layton, President of Brandywine Garden Club, was asked if her club might consider cleaning up and replanting the Amstel House garden. Brandywine Garden Club agreed to undertake this as its main project. Little did they know how complex and expensive it would become! When they first visited Amstel House, they were dismayed to find the garden filled not only with trash and weeds but also two shabby "sheds"--one a former bowling alley with a concrete slab floor in that needed to be removed and replaced with soil. A Victorian-era porch on the back of the house needed to be torn down.
A "New Castle Committee," sometimes referred to as "the New Castle Ladies," was formed to support the project. Several of its members would become founding members of Arasapha.
1932: Brandywine Garden Club researched colonial gardens and initially considered installing a Dutch garden at Amstel House because of the Dutch heritage of Nicholas Van Dyke, a Delaware governor who lived there in the late 1700s. But they eventually hired Charles Gillette, a Virginia landscape architect, who drew up elaborate Colonial Revival garden plans for Amstel House. Gillette supervised the work of installing the most of the walls around the garden, the parterre, and some of the grounds behind the parterre. The rest of the garden, including the garden house and the wall along Delaware Street, could not be installed because those grounds were still occupied by the two "sheds" housing a cobbler and the water commission. The club also reconstructed the kitchen's distinctive "squirrel tail" oven.
1933: In December, Brandywine Garden Club amalgamated with Wilmington Garden Club, which continued the project under the chairmanship of Jean Kane Foulke duPont, a noted philanthropist and suffragette.
1934: Arasapha was founded by Miss Mary E. Shaw, a lifelong resident of New Castle, at a meeting of 27 members in the Amstel House on January 25. Records of this meeting are lost, so we don't know why the name Arasapha was chosen (click here to learn what it might mean). There are conflicting records about the club's initial purpose. At a 1945 club meeting, a member read an excerpt from the (now lost) minutes of this first meeting, stating that the club's founding objectives were (1) transforming of unsightly spots in and around our city, (2) to promote a deeper sense of civic pride among fellow townspeople, and (3) instill into the mind of our young people the preservation of plant life. But a 1934 report to the Wilmington Garden Club said, "A Garden Club has been organized in New Castle to tend the Amstel House Garden and to promote the planting of old fashioned shrubs, flowers, and vines about the village yards and doorways." And a 1938 speech by Jean Kane Foulke duPont stated, "In 1934 the Arasapha Garden Club was organized, its chief objective being the care of the Amstel House Garden and of the Green and the grounds of other historical places in and about New Castle."
1934-1943: Club records from Arasapha's first decade are lost, but newspaper records from 1938-1943 and club minutes after 1943 suggest that the Wilmington Garden Club's view of Arasapha may have been wishful thinking. The club focused during this period on the founding objectives stated at that 1945 club meeting. Among its many accomplishments: It planted and maintained over 400 trees throughout the city; cleared and landscaped a dump on Ferry Cut-Off; landscaped and maintained the triangle at the intersection of Delaware Street and Ferry Cut-Off; and contributed funds toward the Battery Park playground. It sponsored an annual flower show for children, with prizes awarded for cut flowers and flower arrangements. The only mention of tending the Amstel House garden is in a 1937 Wilmington Garden Club report on the Amstel House garden that noted, "The New Castle ladies are assuming more and more responsibility about the care of the place." Miss Mary E. Shaw, founder of the club, chaired the club for its first nine years, through 1942, until declining health made it impossible for her to continue; she passed away in 1943.
1938: With long-awaited removal of the cobbler's "shed" in 1937, Wilmington Garden Club was finally able to construct portions of the Delaware Street wall and the garden house, largely from salvaged materials, and complete the garden's brick walks. Its Amstel House garden project was now concluded at an estimated total cost of $5000--the equivalent of over $85,000 today. On May 2, at a ceremony at the Amstel House, Wilmington Garden Club handed over the key to the garden to New Castle Historical Society, owner of the property, again with the understanding that Arasapha would "tend" the garden although, as already noted, it appears that Arasapha may not have assumed this responsibility until 1944. The Wilmington Garden Club also handed over bricks and $200 to complete the Delaware Street wall whenever the water commission vacated its property.
1939: The Delaware Society for the Preservation of Antiquities, which had purchased the Dutch House in 1937, hired Philadelphia landscape architects to design a plan for the Dutch House garden. The simple plan included a parterre flower garden to the left of the Dutch House; a brick terrace behind the Dutch House; and paths, garden beds and pear trees around the perimeter of a grass lawn. The parterre, terrace, and some of the brick paths still exist; the parterre is now a kitchen garden. Arasapha contributed an herb garden. We don't know what else in the plan was installed.
Report on Arasapha's first May Market, which featured pony rides, a fortune teller, and bird houses!
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1942: The Visiting Nurses Association held a "Flower Market and Book Sale." In 1943 the event became an annual event renamed May Market, and in 1944 Arasapha took over the event from the Visiting Nurses Association. The first five May Markets (1942-1946) were chaired by Isabel Booth (Mrs. Newlin T. Booth). In 1943, Mrs. Booth chaired not only May Market but also Arasapha and the Visiting Nurses Association! Among her many other accomplishments, in the 1930s Mrs. Booth collected the historic stones that compose the Path to Independence next to the garden house in the Amstel House garden. May Market continues to this day as a beloved annual fundraiser.
1944: At a club meeting, an Arasapha member "spoke of the work done by the Wilmington societies in putting in order the Dutch House and Amstel House gardens and how pleased their members will be that our club intends to take care of them." Subsequent club meetings include reports from the Amstel House Garden Committee. So it appears that Arasapha began caring for the Amstel House garden at this time. It began caring for the Dutch House gardens in 1946. |
1946: Arasapha proposed to the City and the Trustees of New Castle Common the formation of a Tree Commission, which began meeting in 1947 and continues to this day. Having grown from 27 to 110 members in just 14 years, Arasapha members voted to limit membership to 100 members and not to accept any more members until membership dropped below 100.
Late 1940s: Arasapha donated several thousand dollars to Amstel House for a new furnace and $400 for Amstel House garden.
1948: Arasapha affirmed that it would use its funds "primarily for the beautification and improvement of New Castle in keeping with the original purpose of the club's founders." It established an executive committee, which evolved into the board that meets regularly today.
1952: Arasapha appointed a committee to consider a rehabilitation of the Dutch House garden, which had been acquired by the New Castle Historical Society. With the approval of the New Castle Historical Society, it chose the architectural firm of Victorine and Samuel Homsey, which submitted preliminary drawings and plans in June 1952. Work on the Dutch House garden began in 1953 with brick paths and a fence dividing the garden's two sections, and planting was completed in 1957.
1963: Arasapha began its annual Holiday Greening project, which today decorates over 100 wreaths with all-natural materials that adorn the businesses and public buildings in the Historic District.
1980s: The former pear orchard in the rear of the Dutch House garden site was transformed into a perennial garden.
1991: Arasapha organized a quilt raffle to boost funds raised at May Market.
2004: Arasapha Garden Club, Inc., was incorporated in the State of Delaware as a non-profit corporation.
2005: On December 22, the IRS determined that Arasapha Garden Club is a public charity (a 509(a)(2) organization) under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, effective October 19, 2004.
2011: The space in the Dutch House garden that was once a pear orchard and then a perennial garden was transformed into a native plant garden.
2018: A major rehabilitation of the Amstel House Garden returned the garden closer to Charles Gillette's historic Colonial Revival design.
2020: May Market was cancelled for the first time since its inception in 1942 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Late 1940s: Arasapha donated several thousand dollars to Amstel House for a new furnace and $400 for Amstel House garden.
1948: Arasapha affirmed that it would use its funds "primarily for the beautification and improvement of New Castle in keeping with the original purpose of the club's founders." It established an executive committee, which evolved into the board that meets regularly today.
1952: Arasapha appointed a committee to consider a rehabilitation of the Dutch House garden, which had been acquired by the New Castle Historical Society. With the approval of the New Castle Historical Society, it chose the architectural firm of Victorine and Samuel Homsey, which submitted preliminary drawings and plans in June 1952. Work on the Dutch House garden began in 1953 with brick paths and a fence dividing the garden's two sections, and planting was completed in 1957.
1963: Arasapha began its annual Holiday Greening project, which today decorates over 100 wreaths with all-natural materials that adorn the businesses and public buildings in the Historic District.
1980s: The former pear orchard in the rear of the Dutch House garden site was transformed into a perennial garden.
1991: Arasapha organized a quilt raffle to boost funds raised at May Market.
2004: Arasapha Garden Club, Inc., was incorporated in the State of Delaware as a non-profit corporation.
2005: On December 22, the IRS determined that Arasapha Garden Club is a public charity (a 509(a)(2) organization) under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, effective October 19, 2004.
2011: The space in the Dutch House garden that was once a pear orchard and then a perennial garden was transformed into a native plant garden.
2018: A major rehabilitation of the Amstel House Garden returned the garden closer to Charles Gillette's historic Colonial Revival design.
2020: May Market was cancelled for the first time since its inception in 1942 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021: Arasapha turned maintenance of the Amstel and Dutch House gardens over to New Castle Historical Society and continues to support the gardens financially.