The Christiana Historical Society (CHS) will hold its annual Christiana Heritage Days event on Friday, Sept. 11, through Sunday, Sept. 13.

The celebration will include music, food, historical displays, children's activities and guided wagon tours throughout the town. Visitors will also be able to learn about the Christiana Resistance, a slave rebellion that took place 175 years ago on Sept. 11, 1851.

"That's why we always have (Heritage Days) at that time frame," said CHS member Patti Shrom. "We're trying to make it extra special for families."

Activities will be centered around the William P. Brinton House, 17 Green St., Christiana, which is the CHS's headquarters. Other events will take place within walking distance at the Christiana Freight Station, 10 Railroad Ave.; the Christiana Masonic Lodge, 115 E. Slokom Ave.; and the Underground Railroad Center at Zercher's Hotel, 11 Green St., which will be open for tours.

This year will be the first Heritage Days celebration with the porch of the Brinton House accessible, as well as the inside of the house.

"You can come on the porch, but we're not completely done with the outside," said CHS member Charlene Ranck. "There's still windows, ceiling and painting here that still needs to be done, but it's sturdy enough that we can have 50 or more persons out here."

The opening event will be on Friday, when the Barlee Red Band and the Days of Old Band will present a concert on the lawn of the Brinton House from 6 to 8 p.m. The Barlee Red Band will open the show at 6 p.m., followed by an intermission and then the Days of Old Band around 7 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to bring a chair or blanket for the show.

"It's a man on bass guitar and a woman that sings," Ranck said of the Barlee Red Band. "They're local, and they'll sing for a little bit, and then we'll have our intermission, where we're going to do a little bit of an update on what's going on here, what the historical society is doing and what this weekend event is going to be."

For the first time this year, the Friday concert will be accompanied by free hot dogs and ice cream. A freewill donation bucket will be available at events throughout the weekend.

Saturday's extensive list of events includes a Civil War encampment, countless historical displays and vendors. When attendees arrive, they are asked to stop by the welcome booth and get a map of the day's activities.

On Saturday, the Mocha Motion and Skip's food trucks will be on the scene with food and drinks available for purchase.

For kids, Saturday will bring a local magician and a petting zoo. Also Saturday, historic wagon tours of the borough will be offered for free. Tour guides will provide information about each site on the tour. The tours, also free for the first time this year, will run every hour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"We'll highlight probably a good bit of the main town and what's happening," Ranck said. "We'll pass a lot of the areas as things are going on, too. We'll be highlighting most of the homes in this area that would range down from the early 1800s, 1833 and right up through."

Also Saturday, the Moores Memorial Library and Christiana Borough Hall will be open for the event. There is a diorama commemorating the resistance that will be opening up at the latter; the library also has a display with some history of the resistance.

Members of the society emphasized that attendees at the event are not to walk across the railroad tracks at any time. Instead, they are asked to use the nearby underpass to safely cross the tracks.

The anniversary of the resistance is incredibly meaningful to Darlene Colon, society president, who is a descendant of one of the resistance's participants. The society is always searching for more descendants of the Christiana Resistance; the society is planning for a group photo of descendants during the event.

The Heritage Days celebration will conclude on Sunday with Friendship Day, which will include a community church service with prayers and music on the lawn of the Brinton House, followed by a potluck lunch. Attendees are asked to bring food to share at the potluck.

"Everybody is welcome," Shrom said. "We get people from all over coming down here, from Leola and Manheim, locally all of the surrounding towns, even a few from Maryland. We had a good range of people attend."

The CHS will be taking preorders for merchandise commemorating the 175th anniversary of the resistance. All proceeds benefit the CHS and its ongoing restoration of the Brinton House, which is associated with the resistance and was reportedly a stop on the Underground Railroad network.

The society's Heritage Days celebration has been held annually since 2001. There is record of Heritage Days in the 20th century, but the event was not held continuously annually.

Shrom emphasized that the organization is always looking for new members. CHS hosts a "Saturdays on the Porch" program every first Saturday of the month from April through November; it has done so since 2024.

For more information about the society, upcoming events and the restoration project, visit http://www.christianahistoricalsociety.com or search for "The Christiana Historical Society" on Facebook. Those with questions may email info@christianahistoricalsociety.com.