From New Castle to Sussex: Big Stories from a Small State

May 14-17, 2025 Wilmington, Delaware

Delaware is excited to welcome the Vernacular Architecture Forum for our 2025 annual conference! Based in Wilmington, the state’s largest city, attendees will have an opportunity to explore historic buildings and landscapes in all three counties of our small state, ranging from the 17th century to the 20th century, highlighted through a series of bus tours. Delaware’s small size and geographic positioning between several cultural hearths resulted in a uniquely diverse settlement landscape, often reflecting influences from Pennsylvania (in the north) and the upper Chesapeake region (in the south). Its landscapes were predominantly agricultural, interspersed with small service villages and river towns, until suburbanization and expansive commercial development dramatically transformed many of its landscapes during the twentieth century–a trend that continues today. As such, the theme of preservation will be present in much of the conference programming.

Our bus tours will reveal Delaware’s variegated early settlement and architectural expression. Diverse examples of eighteenth-century religious architecture and spaces will be showcased, with opportunities to see examples of Swedish Lutheran, Quaker, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Anglican houses of worship. Colonial and Federal-era River towns will serve as nodes of exploration on two different tours. Historic farmscapes, now surrounded by modern developments, will highlight evolved dwellings and a variety of outbuildings. VAFers will have an opportunity to consider contrasting landscapes of enslavement, seeing coinhabited buildings on northern farms and separate quarters on southern Delaware plantations. Tour-goers will notice different expressions of the suburban ideal, as one tour will highlight the multifaceted nature of the country house movement in Delaware, while another tour considers suburban housing options for Black Delawareans during the mid-twentieth century. The conference will be based in downtown Wilmington, Delaware.  

Conference planning committee: Co-Chairs Catherine Morrissey, Center for Historic Architecture and Design, University of Delaware; & Michael J. Emmons, Jr., CHAD, UD; Alexandra Tarantino, Denver Service Center, National Park Service; Kimberley Showell, CHAD, UD

For first-time paper presenters assistance may be available through Simpson Presenter's Fellowship

For student groups assistance to cover expenses of attending the conference is available through the Ambassadors Award