New things have come to Delaware in the 12 years since I have lived there! My parents are now volunteers at Delaware's newest state park -Auburn Heights. They have actually been volunteering there for a few years, but this was the first chance Sam and I have gotten to go check out Auburn Heights.
Auburn Heights is a Victorian Mansion owned by the Marshall Family and later donated to the state as a State Park. If you go to check out the house, you just may get to go on a guided tour with my Mom. All of the volunteers wear period dress from the early 1900's, but the day we were there since the heat index was above a hundred and the house does not have AC everyone was opting for the coolest clothing possible!
Inside the house and museum are many antiques. Since the house was lived in until the 1990's everything was left in place and did not need to be recreated. The original furniture was all still in the house being used.
On the property there is a train track and a "toy" train that people can actually ride.
Driving the Stanley Coach is Tom Marshall, who grew up on the property and can tell you all of it's history first hand. He also shared with us that he has visited Alaska!
The Stanley Coach is the largest steam powered vehicle Stanley made and one of only a few still in existence.
Here is my Dad driving the 1916 Rauch and Lang Electric car. Since many of the parts of this car are wooden, restoration has taken some woodworking skill. My Dad rebuilt casing for the battery compartment, the rear panels, and many other detail pieces in the car. My Dad also showed us a wooden steering wheel he recently completed for one of the Stanley Steam Cars. It is incredible how many pieces on the early vehicles were handcrafted wood.
Here we all are in the car. It is quite small and two people have to face backward. The car can go about 30 mile on a charge, more if you can coast for a bit.
There is no gas required, just a bunch of battery power!
~GLC
No comments:
Post a Comment