...welcomes you to Handsell.
The Nanticoke Historic Preservation Alliance Inc. is a non-profit 501(c) 3, all volunteer organization that was formed in December of 2005 to purchase, study and restore the brick house at the Handsell plantation site and make it available for public tours and special education events in celebration of the Native American, Colonial and African American connections to the Indiantown-Vienna area.
Further up-to-date information and membership forms can be found at: www.restorehandsell.org or by contacting restorehandsell@aol.com.
The Nanticoke Historic Preservation Alliance, Inc. shall research, restore and preserve document, artifacts, and sites important to the history and heritage of the Nanticoke River watershed; shall promote community awareness of history through education, and shall cooperate with and support all other groups with a similar mission for the benefit of all people.
Vision
Armed with knowledge of what the Indiantown has been and how the history was lost over the centuries, a dedicated group of volunteers in committing their time and talents to telling the forgotten story. Here on this site the NHPA celebrate the saga of the native people and their village at Chicone, the 17th century trading post known as "HANDSELL", the early settlement of the Steele and Henry families among others and the important contribution of the African Americans who worked this soil and called the Indiantown their home.
Archaeology
With grants from the Bartus Trew Foundation and support from the Maryland Historic Trust, Mid-Shore Community Foundation and others, the NHPA began and will continue archaeological study of the property surrounding the brick house at HANDSELL. Keenly aware of the sensitive nature of the precious, irreplaceable and sacred artifacts that may remain in the Indiantown soil, every effort is being made to protect those historic resources and safe guard their survival now and in the future.
Restoration
The restoration of the "old brick house at Chicone" as Hansell has been known locally for many years, will take several years and a great amount of resources, heavily relying on local volunteerism and financial support. In every way, the restoration of this house is a community effort and everyone who joins the NHPA is helping to insure the preservation of not only the house, but the story.
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