PLEASE NOTE: For Reference Only - this exhibit CLOSED November 4, 2007.

     Join us this summer for a new look at the gardens of the Read House in Historic New Castle as the Historical Society of Delaware opens a summer exhibit, How Has Our Garden Grown?.   

            How Has Our Garden Grown? highlights the changes in the garden and associated grounds through 200 years and three separate families.  On display July 19 through October 5, 2007, the exhibit will document the impact the Read, Couper, and Laird families made upon their exterior environment.  The formal gardens at the Read House were installed by second owner William Couper in 1846.  Still intact after 150 years, the Read House garden ranks as one of the oldest surviving gardens in the region.  But what did the same space look like when George Read II lived in his grand mansion in 1801?  And what changes did final owners Philip and Lydia Laird make in the twentieth century?  This exhibit explores the ways in which first George Read II, then William Couper, and finally Philip and Lydia Laird used the grounds at the Read House as functional workspace, beautiful garden, or a mixture of the two.

            The exhibition features items from the Historical Society’s manuscript, photograph, and map collections.  It will also incorporate artifacts and samples from the Read House archaeology collection.

         This exhibit WAS open July 19 through November 4, 2007 - NOW CLOSED
FOR REFERENCE ONLY.

Click here for tour information at the
Read House & Gardens including times and cost
Read House & Gardens
42 The Strand, New Castle, Delaware 19720
(302) 322-8411