Original Rehoboth schoolhouse desk donated to enhance diorama display
Longtime Rehoboth Beach resident Kitty Cole has donated an original Rehoboth schoolhouse desk for display with Paul Lovett’s miniature village re-creation of 1910 Rehoboth Avenue in the Rehoboth Beach Main Street building next to the Rehoboth Beach Museum.
Cole was given the antique desk by Billy Joseph, whose ancestor Myrtle Joseph studied in Rehoboth’s original schoolhouse. That structure, built in 1884, was on Grove Street near the traffic circle, where Royal Farms is today. It is likely that the desk was first used at that school. At the time, the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal had not yet been completed. Oral histories recorded by attendees of the school include their memories of playing among the pine boughs in the forested area that existed where the canal is today.
That original wooden schoolhouse structure and its brick successor built in 1908 farther up Rehoboth Avenue will both be modeled and displayed on the diorama, a multi-year project to re-create the length of Rehoboth Avenue during the railroad era.
To learn about the project, go to goldenageofrehoboth.com. By appointment, Lovett hosts informal gatherings with the diorama at 9:30 a.m. Mondays, with each meeting focusing on a unique aspect of Rehoboth history. All are welcome to bring coffee and join the conversation. To reserve a space, contact Paul Lovett at paul@pdlovett.com or call 302-893-9391.
