Keeping Delaware History Alive, a series of Lectures sponsored by the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation
v “Wilmington’s Waterfront”
Sally O’Byrne, co-author of Images of America: Wilmington’s Waterfront and Wilmington’s celebrated naturalist and conservationist.
Since the Kalmar Nyckel’s arrival at “the Rocks” in March, 1638, bringing Peter Minuit and the first permanent European settlers to the Delaware Valley, “Wilmington’s Waterfront” has shaped the city’s history and explains its location. Sited at the confluence of the Christina and Brandywine Rivers, Wilmington’s place in our history and lives has been no accident. Peter Minuit knew what he was doing in 1638 when he chose “the Rocks” as the site for Fort Christina on what is today’s 7th Street Peninsula.
“Sally O’Byrne knows what she’s doing, too,” comments Samuel Heed, Director of Education for the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation. “Sally is an exquisite tour guide, and she has invited us all for an unforgettable excursion along the history of ‘Wilmington’s Waterfront’.” Co-author with Priscilla Thompson of the best-selling book by the same name, “Sally O’Byrne will take us through the images of the two rivers that have been the city’s lifeblood since the arrival of the first Swedish settlers,” Heed said. It’s a story that ebbs and flows like the tide of the Christina, and, like the Brandywine’s timeless power, it’s one that cascades with the people and industries that have called Wilmington home.”
The Kalmar Nyckel Foundation is delighted to present Sally O’Byrne for a pictorial tour d’horizon of Wilmington’s waterfront, where she will engage her audience with a vast collection of photographs and lithographs, helping us rediscover the shipbuilding companies, railroad car manufacturers, steamboat excursions, America’s Cup winners, parks and bridge dedications, and all the landmarks and activities that are of part of Wilmington’s waterfront past.
A lifelong Delawarean, Sally has lived in the City of Wilmington since 1977, when she and her husband Terry were awarded an urban homesteading house in the Cool Springs Neighborhood. After earning a Masters in Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania, Sally became interested in urban issues, becoming President of Cityside, Inc., an organization dedicated to living in the city. Her interest in the rivers of the city go back to that time, when, in 1979, Cityside was awarded a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation under their Maritime Preservation funds, to do an inventory of waterfront properties. Still living in downtown Wilmington, Sally has also pursued her lifelong interest in natural history as a teacher and naturalist for the Delaware Nature Society. She coordinated the 2000 avian survey for the Russell Peterson Wildlife Refuge and is presently President of the Delmarva Ornithological Society. Sally is also a board member of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, the Delaware Nature Society, and Christina Conservancy
