Dover Days celebration highlights May events at Delaware museums

Delaware's Division of Historic and Cultural Affairs offers a dozen special events throughout May at six different museum locations. Highlighting those events are Saturday, May 4 activities held in conjunction with the 80th Annual Dover Days Festival including a theatrical presentation honoring the noted Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman at the Old State House and a Johnson Victrola Museum program on Nipper, the mixed fox/bull terrier whose image in the Victor Talking Machine Company’s “His Master’s Voice” logo became one of America’s oldest trademarks.

On May 18, Herb Day at the John Dickinson Plantation will provide visitors with an opportunity to learn about 18th-century uses for herbs while creating a sachet to take home.

To celebrate Delaware Archeology Month, the Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes will hold a DeBraak commemoration and maritime event from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., Saturday, May 25.  Local maritime organizations will give presentations, and a special hull tour of the British warship that sank off Cape Henlopen in 1798 will be offered.  Admission to the museum is free.

The lecture/tour of His Majesty’s Sloop DeBraak, scheduled for 1 p.m., will include a trip to the hull facility in nearby Cape Henlopen State Park for a curator-led tour of the ship’s remains.

There is limited seating and admission is $10, paid in advance by reservation at shop.delaware.gov. The Zwaanendael Museum is at 102 Kings Highway, Lewes.  For more information, call 302-645-1148.

For a complete schedule of events offered in May by Delaware Division of Historic and Cultural Affairs, visit history.delaware.gov.