March 3rd, 2011

What’s Happening?, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware Beaches, Arts, Entertainment, Mardi Gras, Gumbo Cook-off, Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, Film, Chocolat, The 21st Chocolate Festival

Rehoboth Beach is a resort town and a year-round community.  The town has over 200 shops, galleries and spas, 40 hotels and B & B’s, and over 100 gourmet restaurants, casual eateries, bakeries and coffee shops.

I can feel it, and I can smell it too.   Slowly spring is around the corner.  People are working on their yards; sprucing things up for the upcoming summer season.  That’s the first sign.

This upcoming week-end is a big one for Rehoboth Beach.  There is something for everyone.  So, here it goes.

Friday – Tuesday, 3/4 until 3/8 – It’s a Mardi Gras week-end in downtown Rehoboth Beach.  There will be festivities, raffles, beads and more beads.  The participating restaurants are going all out to offer the Cajun cooking that defines New Orleans.  So, until Fat Tuesday, be ready to party, to eat and to have a good time!!  There will be a Gumbo Cook-off on Sunday, 3/6 from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m.    For all information, please log on to http://www.downtownrehoboth.com.  You will find the information on the Gumbo Cook-off, the participating restaurants and so much more.  You can also call tel. 302-227-2772.

Fat Tuesday is always the day before Ash Wednesday and Ash Wednesday is 46 days before Easter.  Easter can fall on any Sunday from March 23rd to April 25th with the exact date to coincide with the first sunday after the full moon following a Spring Equinox.  More Mardi Gras info.?  Then log on to www.mardigrasneworleans.com.

Friday, 3/4 – Cinema Cabaret – Dinner & Film Series, presented by the Rehoboth Beach Film Society and Fish On, located at the Village of Five Points in Lewes.  Tickets are $30 and will include a 3-course meal, coffee or tea, and the film.  Alcohol and gratuity is not included.  You may purchase the tickets on line at www.rehobothfilm.com or by calling the Film Society at 302-645-9095, ext. 1.

On Friday the film will be Chocolat at 6:30 p.m. – In a tantalizing tale about desire, single mother Vianne Rocher (Juliette Binoche) and her 6 year old daughter open a chocolate shop in a provincial French Village.  The townspeople are shocked when Vianne leaves her shop open during Lent, but her confections are too tempting to resist…..Also starring Alfred Molina and Johnny Depp.  PG-13.  The film is in English and French with English subtitles.

Saturday, 3/5 – It is the 21st Rehoboth Beach Chocolate Festival from 11:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center located in Rehoboth Avenue, right in the heart of downtown Rehoboth Beach.  The $2 admission will give you 1 taste.  Children under 5 are free.  More info?  Please call 302-227-2772 or log on to www.downrehoboth.com.

The tastings will start at 11:30 a.m., but for a complete list of all that will be happening please visit the website above mentioned.

Saturday, 3/5 – Chocolate Festival at Outlet Liquors located at 19724 Coastal Highway.  Tel. 302-227-7700.   2:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. will be a time to sample chocolate creations from local restaurants, a variety of chocolate wines, beers and liquors.  There will be live music and it is completely Free!!  Their website is www.outletliquors.net but at the moment is under redevelopment.

Saturday and Sunday, 3/5 and 3/6 – Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, at Clear Space Theatre Company located at 20 Baltimore Ave.  Saturday’s performance will be at 7 p.m. and Sunday’s performance will be at 3 p.m.  It will feature musical styles from blues to waltz, novelty numbers and marches.  The classic rag, Scott Joplin & the Original Kings of Ragtime feature authentic orchestrations.  Visit www.clearspacetheatre.org for more info. and to purchase tickets on line.  You may also purchase tickets by calling 302-227-2270.

Saturday and Sunday, 3/12 and 3/13.  Clear Space Theatre Company located at 20 Rehoboth Ave. will be bringing to you the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico.  Saturday, the 12th, the performance will be at 7 p.m. and on Sunday, the 13th it will be at 3 p.m.  You can obtain tickets by calling 302-227-2270, by visiting the Theatre during the week and by going to their website, www.clearspacetheatre.org.

Ballet Folklorico de Mexico is a group of energetic dancers gathered from all over the world to celebrate the cultural diversity that is steeped in the rich, ancient history of Mexico.  The group was created by the Avila siblings in 1972 to preserve Mexican folk dances and to make these performances widely available for others to appreciate the diverse Mexican culture.  The group has traveled around the world with their dances and received official commendations from the Mexican Government Tourism Office.  Visit www.balletamalia.com if you would like to learn more about this group.

Tickets are $30 for adults, $25 for seniors, $20 for students and $10 for children.  If you mention this article you will receive $5.00 off the ticket price.

Until April 8th – Back on April 23, 2010, I wrote a post on Avery’s Rest, the beautiful archaeological exhibit at the Rehoboth Beach Museum.  If you would like to see it just click on the month of April 2010 on the left hand side of this website and scroll down to the date.

The Rehoboth Beach Historical Society would like to invite local residents who have not yet visited the Avery’s Rest archaeological exhibit at the Rehoboth Beach Museum before it moves on.  The exhibit features objects from an archaeological dig on the former property of Captain John Avery who resided in the area in the late 1600’s; Delaware’s Frontier.  On view are farming tools, Native American artifacts, tobacco pipes, German pottery and other objects more than 300 years old. 

From now until the exhibit ends, visitors showing a Delaware driver’s license will get $2 off the regular admission price.

The museum is located at 511 Rehoboth Ave.  Winter hours are Monday, Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.  Regular admission for adults is $5, $3 for seniors, college students and military and $2 for children 13 to 17 years of age.  Members and children 12 and under are free.  Memberships are available.  Please call 302-227-7310.

As you can see Rehoboth is starting to wake up and believe me once it does….well you know, this town is a lot of fun….

Talk to you later…

October 23rd, 2010

Avery’s Rest Live!!, Archaeological Dig, Rehoboth Beach Historical Society, Rehoboth Beach Museum, Clear Space Theatre Company, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Delaware Beaches, Saturday and Sunday

Back on April 23rd I wrote a post on Avery’s Rest, John & Sarah Avery, a 17th Century Family in Delaware’s Frontier.  If you would like to see that post please click on the month of April, under Archives, on the left hand side of my site and scroll down to the 23rd.

I am reminding you of this post because this week-end, the Clear Space Theatre Company joins forces with the Rehoboth Beach Museum to bring one of its exhibits to life. 

“Captain John and Sarah Avery:  A 17th Century Family on Delaware’s Frontier”.  The actors will take on the roles of this real-life family.

Using artifacts as a point of reference, the exhibit examines the shifting economic and cultural traditions of English and Dutch colonists, and their interation with Native American communites, illuminating the joys and hardships of daily life in Sussex County in the late 1600s and early 1700s.

The actors will take on the responsibility of guiding visitors through this colonial experience, with character monologues.  These performers will be stationed throughout the museum and will perform for each group of visitors as they are led through the exhibit.

Admission is by donation only.  Times?  Both days from 1:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m.

Location?  Rehoboth Beach Museum located at 511 Rehoboth Ave., by the roundabout.  For more information, please call 302-227-7310.

For more information of Clear Space and their current season schedule, visit www.clearspacetheatre.org.

Have a great week-end….Talk to you later…..

Note:  Information for this post was taken from the Rehoboth Beach Historical Society.

April 23rd, 2010

Avery’s Rest, John & Sarah Avery, 17th Century Family, Delaware’s Frontier, Peaking into a New Exhibit, Rehoboth Beach Museum, Delaware Beaches, 5/1/10 – 5/1/11

Avery's Rest - Archaeological Site

“No research is the end; it is the beginning.  New and different questions come up.  New areas to explore present themselves.”

With this in mind I went to preview the new exhibit in the Rehoboth Museum called Captain John and Sarah Avery or Avery’s Rest.

The Rehoboth Beach Museum is located at 511 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971.  Website is rbhistoricalsociety@verizon.net and the telephone is 302-227-7310.  Nancy Alexander is the Director.

Inside the Rehoboth Museum

Until I was invited to this event, I really did not have any idea that there was an archaeological dig in our area.  And, that it has been operating for a few years.  It does not surprise me.  Afterall, in 1682 there were only 59 landowners in this area.  What is good about this area is that since it has been mainly farm land, it has only been touched a bit.  Once you are below the plowed zone you can start finding artifcacts untouched for 300 years, as is the case with Avery’s Rest.

The exhibit is only about 1% of what the archaeologists have found.  They have chosen the ones that will be of most interest, showcasing life in the 17th century.

Through the recovery, survey, excavation and then analysis of materials left behind, we can study the past when there are no written records for historians to study.

It seems that the Avery’s were first in Massachusetts, then Maryland and then Delaware.  During his lifetime his activities and appointments would be many.  He was considered a wealthy man, being that he was a plantation owner; 800 acres.  His wife, Sarah was the first recorded school teacher in the Colony of Maryland.

The artifacts found represent daily life.  Others, reveal site specific activities.

Among the findings that caught my attention was a Piece of 8 which was the Spanish dollar.  It is a silver coin that was minted in the Spanish Empire after a Spanish currency reform in 1497.  Only 2 other coins were found in the dig.  The Piece of 8 is of particular interest since it has to have come from John Avery himself.  There were no coins, really.  Tobacco was the means of exchange.  But, John Avery was a master of the Sloop “Prosperous”, which was a Somerset County ship sailing from Maryland to the island of Barbados.

Piece of Eight - The Silver Coin behind the key

A key was found in the basement, down the steps.  Probably there must have been a door.

John Avery had 2 slaves, but he employed Indians to work for him.  There are arrowheads found in the dig; one was made out of glass. Definitely the glass did not come from the Indians.

The well shaft casing was so well constructed.  Only a man of means could have ordered that.

The Well

They do not think that the main house is where the dig is at the moment due to the fact that they could not find a source of heat.  Definitely needed in those times.

I was asking what was the excitement on the field when someone would discover an artifact.  Apparently, it is big.  But a lot of work has to be done before it comes out of the dirt.  Once that happens, it is totally disturbed.  The critical pieces would be artifacts made out of iron.  They need to be preserved, so the elements do not destroy them.

Pig Jaw Being Excavated

The site has not been made public in order to be kept undisturbed.

On the left, basement where key was found, Right shows below the plowed line

So many hours.  All volunteers.

The two people I spoke to were John Bansch, President of the Sussex County Chapter of the Archaeological Society of Delaware.  Website is www.delawarearchaeology.org.  Tel. 302-841-9915.  E-mail is beach-home@verizon.net.

Even though the work is done by volunteers, donations are needed in order for the conservancy to survive.  John will be more than happy to talk to corporate or individuals if you are interested in contributions.

The other person was Daniel R. Griffith of Griffith Archaeology Consulting (Archaeological Survey & Research).  Tel. 302-335-4286, cell 302-242-3918 and e-mail addres is danielgriffith@comcast.net.

Mr. Griffith is the principal Archaeologist on the dig and is passionate about his work.

I just cannot imagine living the 17th century.  This was a frontier culture.  Diverse societies were in transition.  It would have been such a harsh life.

The Rehoboth Beach Museum should be so proud to be able to make this exhibit available.  And, us, what can I say, we are so lucky to have it.

Word of mouth is a powerful advertising tool, so pass this info. around.  Rehoboth Beach is a community with a rich history; it would be such a shame if you would leave our beaches without knowing a little bit of it.

Talk to you later……….

Note:  Information for this post was taken from the Rehoboth Museum Press Release, and from http://community-2.webtv.net/coranglais53/averyofdelaware/