Featured Events

Delaware’s largest city played a significant role in the American war effort during the Second World War. As a manufacturing stronghold, its factories were critical for building ships and other heavy industrial equipment needed to supply Allied Armies.  Over ten thousand of its residents joined the Armed forces and Wilmingtonians were present at every major campaign.  Sadly, over 400 of them never made it home.  Nathan Field is conducting research for a book on Wilmington during the War which will be the subject of this lecture. 

Nathan Field is the founder of the Wilmington History Society which hosts monthly speaking events with a core focus on promoting interest in local Northern Delaware history. He is also a member of the Wilmington

At a time when the Shenandoah town of Winchester, Virginia has recently enlarged its historic district, another celebration of this lovely old town and Frederick County has been completed.

Some twenty years ago, the town’s most noteworthy and historic buildings were recorded in a modern primitive painting by Page Huff Dillon.  The painting was commissioned by Margaretta Barton Colt to commemorate her book  Defend the Valley. A Shenandoah Family in the Civil War.  (New York, 1994). Some of the buildings that figure prominently in the book are shown, along with others in Frederick County’s rich history. The painting, completed in 1995, was reproduced in prints sold for the benefit of the Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society, and has become beloved locally.

In

Join us as we welcome our guest speaker, Brint Spencer. Brint is the Director of the Brandywine Zoo. The zoo has just unveiled its 13 million dollar master plan to win back visitors. Learn what the future holds for our wonderful local zoo. 

Join us in the Living Room as we welcome back, Oxana Harlamova on piano. Dr. Harlamova was graduated from the Academy of Music in Chişinău, Moldova, with the degree of Master of Music in Piano Performance and a doctorate in Piano Accompanying. She won prizes in the National Competition in 1986 and 1993 and received the Diploma of Excellence in Piano Accompaniment at the 1998 Jeunesses Musicales International Competition in Bucharest, Romania.

Join us for a Pickle Ball clinic on Friday, July 19th. We will have 4 instructors here to demonstrate how to play Pickle Ball. 

Join us in the Terrace Room on Wednesday, March 13th as we learn what it takes to run several  successful coffee shops in town. 

Join us in the Terrace Room on as we welcome the Executive Director of the Delaware Art Museum, Sam Sweet. Learn what the future has in store for our Delaware Art Museum. 

Join us in the Terrace Room as we welcome our guest speaker, Pam Cornforth.  Pam is the executive director of the Ronald McDonald House. 

Kevin Reilly was living a charmed life. He had fulfilled his lifelong dream of playing in the NFL, for his beloved Philadelphia Eagles. Then, a rare tumor in his shoulder had him undergo a radical amputation and put an end to his professional football career. Join us in the Terrace Room as he shares his personal story with us. 

Join us in the Terrace Room as we welcome, Lenny Wilson is the Associate Director of Development for the Delaware Center for Horticulture.  tA Botanical Shoemaker by training, Lenny uses traditional methods and materials to unify leather, leaves, and other materials to craft unique life-size shoes. His one-of-a-kind shoes made from plant material are displayed in local art galleries and exhibits.

Join us in the Terrace Room as we welcome Mark W. (MACK) McElroy, PhD from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.  Mack will be discussing with us the Orion program. This program is NASA's current effort to send humans back to the moon and to Mars. Involved in this program is design and construction of a crew capsule that will be launched by a new rocket into deep space (i.e., beyond Earth orbit). Occurring in parallel will also be a new human occupied space station that orbits the moon that Orion will interact with on missions. I will discuss these programs from my perspective in the structural engineering branch and describe how all of these efforts fit together in the larger picture of human space exploration over the next 1-2 decades.

Internationally acclaimed pianist Enrique Graf will be performing in our living room on Saturday, June 23rd. Mr. Graf is one the world’s premiere virtuosos equally sought after as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher. He has been variously described as an “assured and technically complete pianist” and “one of the best interpreters of his generation” (El Pais), who plays with “fiery virtuosity” (The New York Times).

Join us in the Terrace Room on Thursday, April 26 as we welcome our guest speaker, Alison Hoagland. Her engaging study of this archetypal American building form combines in-depth research and fieldwork with vivid anecdotes. Especially valuable is her fresh and multifaceted interpretation of the building type as an icon evokes pioneer virtues, humbly born presidents, and childhood memories of Lincoln logs and little houses on the prairie. Alison assures us that we will never take the log cabin for granted again.

Alison K. Hoagland, Professor Emerita in Social Sciences at Michigan Technological University and author of Mine Towns: Buildings for Workers in Michigan’s Copper Country and Buildings of Alaska.

Singing the classics from the Great American Song Book, we welcome back Katie Eagleson.  Since the beginning of her professional career, Katie has been the featured vocalist in many ensembles, ranging from duos to Big Bands, singing "pop" music, in venues large and small, and events both public and private, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Chris' Jazz Cafe and Sellersville Theater. Katie will be performing at Stonegates with Lenny Pierro and his group.  You're not going to want to miss it! 

Jonathan Russ is an associate professor of History at the University of Delaware.  Jonathan serves as the editor of the Delaware History and as a board member of the Delaware Heritage Commission. Professor Russ regularly teaches courses in the history of Delaware, United States history and the history of business at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The topic that Professor Russ has agreed to talk about is: The settlement of the Dutch and the Swedes in Delaware and the origin of the American log cabin. This topic will fit together nicely with Alice Hoagland’s lecture the following week on the American log cabin.

Ralph Begleiter (former CNN World Affairs Correspondent and Director of the University of Delaware's Center for Politcal Communication)  will join us for a discussion about how the social media and Internet communication revolutions have overturned a century of mainstream information media economics, ethics and standards.

From coral reefs to deserts, The Nature Conservancy works to protect the lands and waters that plants and animals need to survive—for us and for future generations. Come join State Director, Richie Jones as he shares with us how the Natrure Conservancy protects nature to preserve life.  Founded in 1951, the Nature Conservancy is the world's leading conservation organization.

Dr. Ken Lacovara visited Stonegates to discuss his discovery of Dreadnoughtus schrani, an exceptionally complete titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur skeleton.  Dr. Lacovara, earned his doctoral degree in geology at UD in 1997, is credited with discovering the 77-million-year-old dinosaur in southern Patagonia, Argentina.

Halsey Spruance, Executive Director of the Delaware Museum of Natural History joined us to share his vision and plans for the musuem.

The Delaware Museum of Natural History is located one mile from Stonegates. It opened to the public in 1972, welcomes more that 65,000 visitors each year, and is the only natural history museum in the state.

“Two Chairs (or maybe…three?)"

In 1857 William Morris commissioned a group of furniture for the apartments that he shared with Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti in Red Lion Square. The objects were stylistically “Arthurian” in keeping with the sensibilities of the Pre-Raphaelites. Two chairs, prominent in the group, were acquired by the Delaware Art Museum in 1997. A mysterious third chair that surfaced in a Belgian flea market in 2010 will be presented, compared and contrasted with the documented chairs, and a probable resolution to the mystery will be offered. 

Mike Podmaniczky was in the first graduating class of the Conservation Analytical Laboratory’s Furniture Conservation Program in Washington, DC, receiving a certificate from the Smithsonian Institution and an M.A. in Decorative Arts Conservation from Antioch University in 1990. He received a B.A. in Studio Art with departmental honors in 1970 from Kenyon College. He is a past chairman of

Join us as we welcome the Executive Director of the Delaware Theater Company, Bud Martin.  Bud will share with us just what it takes to produce a play and the struggles it takes to land a play on Broadway. In 2012, Bud assumed the role of Executive and Artistic Director at Delaware Theatre Company. Prior to this post, his career has spanned from the theatre to corporate finance to Broadway producer.  

The mission of Delaware Theatre Company is to create theatre of the highest professional quality in Delaware and thereby enrich the vitality of the area through artistic programming, education and community service.

James C. Thompson (author of Painting America’s Portrait: How Illustrators Created America) gave a talk aobut Illustrators during World War I.  Called to serve, they used their unique skills to help their Uncle Sam win that terrible war. His book will be released on April 6, 2017 (the 100^th anniversary of America’s entry into the war).

Join us on Thursday, March 29th in the Terrace room as we welcome Jill Abbott.  Jill is the Senior Events Planner for Winterthur Mueseum and Gardens.  Jill will be sharing with us the ins and outs on how she runs a local, "HORSE and PONY Show" that we all know as the Point to Point which is scheduled rain or shine the first Sunday in May. weekend in May. 

On Thursday, January 18, John Morris of Channel 6 in Philadelphia will be the featured speaker at Stonegates giving us an in-depth look at aspects of electronic communication, of which television is a part.  John is Vice-president of Multiplatform Programming for the Philadelphia ABC company.  His job is to make the company relevant to people of all ages.

Tom Evans led a discussion about the documentary entitled: Battle for the Barriers.

Former Representative Tom Evans co-authored The Coastal Barrier Resources Act in 1982.  The documentary looks at the islands, dunes and wetlands that buffer our shores and some of the adaption projects now underway to strengthen and protect these valuable natural barriers. 

Join Jeff Downing of the Mt. Cuba Center as he shares with us the Copeland's legacy and vision. 

Lammot and Pamela Copeland were visionaries. They loved wildflowers and native plants and they developed an exquisite garden in the rolling hills around their home in Hockessin, DE. But the Copelands recognized early on that the fate of the native plants that they loved is inextricably tied to the fate of the habitats that sustain them. Join Jeff Downing, executive director of Mt. Cuba Center, as he recounts the history of the Copelands’ Mt. Cuba estate and gardens, and relates how Mt. Cuba Center is working today to realize the Copelands’ conservation vision. 

Ralph Begleiter (former CNN World Affairs Correspondent and Director of the University of Delaware's Center for Politcal Communication) joined us for a discussion of "Media Earthquake: The New Business of News"  exploring how the social media and Internet communication revolutions have overturned a century of mainstream information media economics, ethics and standards.

Join us in the Terrace Room as we welcome, writer, director and producer Lyda Ely. Lyda’s credits include: the two-hour documentary “THE AMERICAN WEDDING” for A&E Television, “THE TWENTIETH CENTURY WITH MIKE WALLACE” for THE HISTORY CHANNEL, as well as “DIANA: PRINCESS OF WALES” (CNN); “I REMEMBER: 1968 POLITICS” (CBS PRODUCTIONS) and “CNN 20th ANNIVERSARY – TIANANMEN SQUARE” (CNN). She has produced and directed several BIOGRAPHY hours for A&E, including “SAL MINEO” and “LECH WALESA.” Most recently, she wrote and produced segments for CNN’s series CNN HEROES. Lyda will be sharing with us her film entitled: Funny Business which is an inside look at the world of cartooning.  There will be an informal Q & A after the film is viewed.

Join us in the Terrace Room as we welcome our guest speaker, Mr. William Drennen, III.  Mr. Drennen is the CEO and President of PanAtlantic Energy Group.  He leads the PanAtlantic in managing the existing worldwide portfolio and growing assest base through the acquisition of new projects. Mr. Drennen serves as CEO of Vanco Exploration Company. He has 36 years of domestic and international industry experience including executive management positions at ExxonMobile Corporation. 

Thursday, May 18th our guest speaker will be Dr. Robert R. Jordan. Delaware State Geologist and Director Emeritus and Professor Emeritus, University of Delaware. The lecture is titled: Mason, Dixon and the Quest for Oil 

Just in time for horse racing season, Dr. Dean Richardson will be joining us on Thursday, May 3^rd  to speak.  Dean Richardson, DVM, DACVS, has certainly made an impact on equine orthopedics. The award-winning chief of large animal surgery at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center has worked on some of the world’s most famous horses and continues to train and inspire the next generation of veterinary surgeons. Dr. Dean Richardson cared for 2007 Kentucky Derby winner and Triple Crown hopeful Barbaro at Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center after the horse shattered his right hindlimb at the Preakness Stakes.