Rehoboth Beach Museum unveils historic diorama display
Local historian Paul Lovett, the Rehoboth Beach Museum and more than 100 guests celebrated the opening of the Golden Age of Rehoboth diorama exhibition June 20 in the museum's Bob & Dee Moore and Mr. and Mrs. E. Thomas Harvey III Upper Gallery.
Lovett's miniature display of Rehoboth Avenue, set circa 1900, depicts a working locomotive and more than 60 handmade replicas of the homes and businesses that graced the Avenue during the railroad era, when visitors came to the beach by train. Realistic sound effects bring the display populated by tiny people in period dress to life. Visitors can press buttons that activate the train, a rotating merry-go-round, a working smokestack, and sounds of ocean waves, seagulls and church bells. With the lights lowered, the internally lighted buildings give visitors a sense of how Rehoboth appeared more than 100 years ago.
Lovett said he is excited to have his work exhibited in the museum. This diorama is unique from train displays at other museums, because the buildings are historically accurate replicas of those that existed in early 1900s Rehoboth. The models are built by a professional model maker using specifications based on photographs and insurance maps. Because his grandparents purchased property along the canal in 1929, Lovett has come to the location where he now lives, next to the canal just across from the museum. He became obsessed with the town’s history when, at almost 70 years of age, he learned that a railroad bridge crossed the canal within a hundred yards of where he played on the canal bank in the early 1950s.
Heidi Nasstrom Evans, the museum's executive director, welcomed guests and commented on fundraising plans to create a permanent display for the diorama, including interactive touchscreen technology for guests to explore its historical features. "Tonight, Mr. Lovett and the museum wanted to let you know about these exciting plans and ask you to support them when the time comes so we may preserve the handmade diorama and have it available for you and your families, and their families to enjoy for generations to come."
Attendees included several Rehoboth Beach Museum board members, city commissioners and the new city manager.
Lovett will be offering scheduled presentations of the diorama throughout the summer; check the museum website, rehobothbeachmuseum.org, for times. He will also be giving three topical lectures on the history of railroad-era Rehoboth this summer. Reservations may be made on the museum website.
The Rehoboth Beach Museum is at 511 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach, near the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal and Grove Park. To learn more, call 302-227-7310 or email info@rbmuseum.org.
