WILMINGTON – On September 29, 2023 from 7-11 pm New Castle County’s Rockwood Park & Museum will host their first Goth Ball: An Evening at Rockwood. The event will celebrate the preservation of this 1800s Gothic Revival treasure house and garden with live music, spooky estate tours, paranormal presentations, and open bar!
Highlights of this fundraiser include:
• Live performance of the 80s Alternative Cover Band “Melt with You” inside the Carriage House
• Open bar, light fare and silent auction
• Teaser performance from “The Revisionists: A Haunted Gothic Walk”
• Medium Kelly Kearney
• Emcee Greg S
• Opening of Rockwood’s Haunted Trails and Oddities Tour of the garden and museum
Rockwood is a unique museum experience featuring an 1800s mansion, filled with its original art collection and surrounded by one of the oldest private gardens in the region—all placed within a 74 acre urban forested park just two miles from Wilmington’ Delaware’s city center.
Goth apparel is recommended but not necessary. $100 per person. To order tickets, click HERE.
“This event really kicks off the entire spooky season at Rockwood,” says Rockwood’s Director Ryan Grover. As the reining Best-of-Delaware ghost tours, Rockwood has leaned into its reputation as a dark and sinister destination with a fall season of scary events:
• Paranormal Experience
• Mayhem and Murder, mysteries in the museum
• Mayhem and Mystery: for Junior Sleuths
• The Revisionists: A Haunted Gothic Walk
• The Haunted Trails of Rockwood
• The Rockwood Oddities Tour
The Goth style of the late 20th century, that is making such a recent comeback with blockbuster tours of some of its musical luminaries, is based on the same Romantic-Era ideas at the core of Rockwood’s own Gothic revival design. Our modern love of vampires, witches and ghost stories came from the same cultural origins as revival art and architecture of the mid-1800s. It was all an exploration of modern individualism through fantasy, poetry and nostalgia.
“The Goth Ball brings all our dark interests into one memorable event while raising funds for the park’s ongoing preservation concerns,” Grover continues. This year, those concerns include a massive renovation of Rockwood’s 170 year-old garden design, an emergency repaving of its brick-lined courtyard, and upgrading the design of its climate control systems.
Rockwood Park & Museum is the only museum project under the ownership and management of New Castle County government. Rockwood has seen a new uptick in visitation, public programming, special exhibitions, visibility, and public partnerships under Grover’s new direction.
About Rockwood Park & Museum
The mission of the site - owned, maintained and operated by New Castle County - is to serve residents and visitors through education and recreation, while preserving and maintaining the historic 19th Century mansion, its collections and grounds. The county advances that mission by presenting an ongoing variety of youth- and family-friendly public programming in the historic buildings and on the grounds, as well as hosting signature annual events and offering facility rental.
This event is sponsored by the Rockwood Park Preservation Society and Prime Hospitality.
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