Historic Lewes job brings together varied background

Dawson Gehrke wants to make a wooden bowl.

“If I could make a wooden bowl, I would really love to do that,” Gerhke said, sitting in a blue wing-back chair in the parlor of the Burton-Ingram House on the campus of Historic Lewes, formerly known as the Lewes Historical Society. “Just being able to use something you made sounds really cool to me.”

He has begun what he expects will be a year-long woodworking apprenticeship with Rick Schuman, who owns a woodworking business, For Woodness Sake, in Hartly.

“He’s teaching me the basics of woodworking to build some base of knowledge that I eventually will demonstrate on campus,” Gehrke said.

It is one of the many opportunities he has had to learn a historic skill or a fact and relate it to the public in his full-time job with Historic Lewes, which he began in October after two summers as a volunteer. He draws on his experience as an actor, and his interest in history and teaching.

Gehrke said he takes in knowledge from wherever he can find it: a craftsman, a historical reenactor, materials in an archive or a visitor to Historic Lewes’ main campus and its other four sites. He synthesizes the information into new ways of telling the history of Lewes.

“I’m learning a lot from our maintenance guys,” he said. “I’m learning a lot from our media team. I’m learning from the education team. I’m learning from everybody to a certain extent, which means I get a very varied field of knowledge.”

Gehrke volunteered the last two summers at the Cannonball House and Maritime Museum. Since his hiring, he has taken on more work in historical interpretation, dressing in period clothing and telling tales at the tavern on the Historic Lewes campus. 

While he does not have an official title, as his duties have been expanding, he has also begun to help coordinate the training and work of more than 100 volunteers.    

“There are a lot of volunteers I’ve learned from,” he said. “I try to help volunteers figure out their own narrative so we don’t have so much of a script … here’s the information, figure out what you like talking about and how to put things together.”

Gehrke is also looking forward to studying the history of the doctor's office, which is among the buildings on the Historic Lewes main campus, so that he can help tell its history.

“I really want to work in the doctor’s office to expand my wealth of knowledge,” he said. “That’s one field of history that I haven’t touched much.”

Born in Illinois, he grew up in Frederica in Kent County. His father is director of operations for the Cape May-Lewes Ferry, and the family spent a lot of time in the Rehoboth Beach area. 

He and his fiancée, Lucia O’Neill, plan to marry in June, after O’Neill completes her master’s degree in film scoring at New York University in May.

At 25, Gehrke brings a new perspective to telling the story of the First Town in the First State in the nation. 

“They definitely want to attract more young people, which has worked,” he said, noting several young volunteers who have been brought into Historic Lewes.

The museum industry is transforming due to the proliferation of cellphones and other technology, he said. 

“The amount of research I’ve learned about Lewes as quickly as I have would have been nearly impossible 30 years ago,” Gehrke said. “Just being able to look through the wealth of information on the internet, in addition to books and people, doubles how quickly you can put these stories together and start sharing this history with people.”

Gehrke’s path to Historic Lewes had several turns. When he arrived at the University of Delaware, he majored in communications. He changed to history as a sophomore, then history education as a junior. That led him to an internship at Historic Lewes. Each academic concentration gave him some knowledge that has been incorporated into his job, he said.

“I’ve always been interested in history. I was supposed to work in the archives as an intern, but Andrew [Lyter] was switching to executive director. He asked if I had experience with interpretation. I have kind of an acting background. I acted with the Milford Second Street Players for a while.”

He soon found himself dressed in colonial garb speaking with the public.

“That kind of thing I’ve always been interested in, interacting with the public and presenting,” he said. “So I got to do a lot of that, and that carried on into every aspect of what I do here.”

Lyter encourages his staff of about 10 full-time employees and scores of volunteers to try new things, Gehrke said.

“He really pushes you to get as much out of it as you can,” Gehrke said. “It feels good. I can put it back in, do woodworking here to work on my craft skills and be presenting something for the campus. It’s nice synergy there.”

And later this year, he may produce a bowl.