Old Swedes celebrates its 325th anniversary this year, offering a place to learn history
Correction: Toni Spille is president of the board of Old Swedes Historic Site. Her name was spelled incorrectly in an earlier version of this column.
Most Delawareans know about the Kalmar Nyckel, the tall ship replica of the first Swedish ship to come to the Americas. But just east of the Kalmar Nyckel's winter dock, near the south end of Church Street in downtown Wilmington, stands the last original piece of the first European colony in the Delaware Valley.
When the Swedish colonists made landfall in 1638, they erected Fort Christina along the bank of the river they also named Christina, after the Swedish queen.
Within the fort, they built a small log Swedish Lutheran church. In 1697, the Rev. Erik Bj?rk arrived from Sweden to take over the group's religious needs, and rallied the remaining Swedish settlers to construct a more permanent building for their worship. And on June 4, 1699, the completed church, Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) was consecrated. Today part of the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware and Trinity Parish, the church is the oldest religious building in continuous use as a church in the country. This year, Old Swedes will celebrate its 325th anniversary.
There's more to see at Old Swedes than the church, however. There already was a cemetery on the site when the church was built, and it has expanded greatly over the centuries. The burial ground holds over 1,200 marked graves, many of them important historical figures in their own right.
From Revolutionary War heroes to state and federal politicians, judges to suffragettes, the first female doctor in Delaware and the first female police officer, the tombstones of Old Swedes read like a who's who of New Castle County, from Governor Printz to Ignatius Grubb, Peter Jacquett to Mary Vining to Florence Bayard Hilles.
In the 1950s, Hendrickson House, an early 18th-century stone home built in Chester County, Pennsylvania, by Swedish settlers, was moved to the site. Hendrickson House is now a museum and gift shop. The Hendrickson House, the burial ground, and the church, a National Historic Landmark since 1961, are now part of First State National Historic Park.
Old Swedes Historic Site, as it's known, is a unique signpost for Delaware's history. For more than 300 years, people of all backgrounds have come to the small stone church to worship, to marry, to baptize their children, and to bury their loved ones. Today, tourists come as well, for guided tours of the church and cemetery.
Every year before Halloween, children and adults wind their way through the darkening graveyard as the "ghosts" of some significant Delawareans stand by their own graves to tell of their contributions to Delaware history. In December, the Scandinavian festival celebrating Sankta Lucia (Saint Lucia) is celebrated, and often Santa Claus and his wife make an appearance.
The Old Swedes Foundation’s staff and volunteers offer guided tours of the Hendrickson House, the church and the graveyard Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., for a small fee. The fees from tours and events, along with donations from the public, have allowed Old Swedes Foundation to continue that mission since 1947.
This year, as we celebrate Old Swedes' 325th year, we will hold an Arts Day on Saturday, May 18, from noon to 5 p.m. There will be a community drum circle, and performances on the hour from Delaware Shakespeare, Opera Delaware, Pieces of a Dream Contemporary Dance, and The Serafin Ensemble.
On Saturday, June 15, from 5 to 8 p.m., Old Swedes Foundation will host a Garden Party Fundraiser at Old Swedes. Guests will enjoy music, party food and drink while strolling the beautiful grounds and chatting with some of the “ghosts” buried here.
It's fair to say that the city of Wilmington, a place where three rivers come together, would almost certainly exist even if the Swedes hadn't built their fort and their church. But Old Swedes Historic Site literally put what would become Wilmington on the map. Boston may have Old North Church and Paul Revere's lanterns.
Summer fling at Hagley: Hagley Museum and Library celebrates 10Best honor with new Summer Kick-off Celebration
Take Mom to tea: Places to enjoy tea on Mother's Day and beyond, in and near Delaware
Philadelphia has Christ Church, where the founding fathers came together to pray while deciding how to build a nation. And New York has Trinity Church, at the tip of Manhattan, and the graves of some of those founders. But here in Wilmington? We have Old Swedes, and our own proud history to celebrate.
I hope you'll join us for some of the events we have planned, or come take a tour, and see where Wilmington’s history began. For more information on how you can help support Old Swedes, visit oldswedes.org or call 302-652-5629.
Toni Spille is board president of the Old Swedes Foundation.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware can learn local history at Old Swedes Historic Site