As I was thinking about the Confederate flag controversy in the Lee Chapel it dawned on me that I'm not so bothered by the British flag on public property -- even the British flag when it's flying as part of a historic site that was part of their colonies. That led me to think about a picture I took a few years back of an eighteenth century public building -- what was once a government building when we were part of the British empire. Notice the British flag flying in front of the building. Where is this building? What was it? (Also, just to be clear about this, not all of this building dates to the early eightennth century. The part with the cupola was built in the 1730s. Pretty impressive, no? The wing visible here and one on the other side were added later.)
Is it the Old New Castle Courthouse in New Castle Delaware? I think the colonial seat of the colony of Delaware. Now a museum. If so, I recollect New Castle to also be home to the venerable Oak Knoll Books. If not, good to give Bob Fleck's shop a shout out anyway.
Posted by: Steve Garland | May 23, 2014 at 10:03 AM
Yes, Steve -- you got it exactly. Nicely done. Mighty impressive building for the 1730s, isn't it. I guess that's about the same time that Pennsylvania built its statehouse, which became Independence Hall.
Some years back I actually used Oak Knoll Books' building as a trivia question: http://www.thefacultylounge.org/2012/08/bookstore-trivia-1.html
Posted by: Alfred L. Brophy | May 23, 2014 at 11:29 AM
The British flag flying in front of this building is not historical to the 1730's. They are flying the 1801 flag.
Posted by: Beau Baez | May 24, 2014 at 06:04 PM
They fly the flags of the countries that have ruled New Castle: Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US. New Castle is a really interesting town to visit and has a lot of colonial legal history.
Posted by: JanetLindenmuth | May 28, 2014 at 12:35 PM