Egyptian Revival in New Castle, Delaware

Today, PEMCI took us to historic New Castle, a gem in northeastern Delaware on the Delaware River packed with historic houses. The day consisted of visits to historic house museums and conversations about how to present these spaces to the public, all very engaging stuff, but I also had a chance to sneak off at the end of the day and add to my collection of photographs of pet interests:


This Egyptian Revival-style mausoleum, located in the churchyard of the Immanuel Episcopal Church, definitely caught my eye. I've been interested in the Egyptian Revival ever since my first year at Delaware, ever since I took a course (Egyptomania!) that encouraged me to explore Egyptian-style design in the American funerary sphere. My research there was centered around the American Sphinx, a highly idiosyncratic Civil War monument in Mt. Auburn cemetery in Boston, and maybe I'll share more of that research at some point when I'm having a slow blog day. Here's the Sphinx with a handsome human scale model:


Anyway, ultimately I hope to use some of my background reading on the Egyptian Revival to write something really compelling about how obelisks were used in cemeteries as early Civil War soldier monuments, and how this connects to Americans' obsession with Egypt. Should be fun times.