Over this past summer, University of Delaware student Ana Ramirez-Santos immersed herself in the 19th century history of southern Delaware’s Baltimore Hundred.

The findings of her research project will help the South Bethany Historical Society tell the story of how the area evolved from a rural agricultural community to become the bustling tourist resort that it is today. 

“You look at the area now, it’s just so sandy and there’s so many houses,” said Ramirez-Santos, a student in UD’s Associate in Arts Program (AAP). “It’s beautiful, but it’s so different from what it was.”

Funded by the Community Engagement Summer Scholars program, Ramirez-Santos’ project was a continuation of research that began in the summer of 2022. That year, the South Bethany Historical Society connected with Sarah Trembanis, professor of history and associate director of the AAP, to help solve a mystery. 

In the mid-1980s, as construction began in the Cat Hill neighborhood of South Bethany, a small burial plot was unearthed. Without headstones, the identities of the people buried there had remained unknown for decades. 

Trembanis and then-AAP student and Community Engagement Summer Fellow Haley Ryan dug through archival materials, including graveyard and tax records. Ryan’s research pointed to two local families as the most likely residents buried in the small family plot. 

“So many of those families still live and work in Sussex County,” said Trembanis, “but the accounts of those lives weren’t well documented. … [The historical society is] really hoping to do a service to their community by being able to present that information.”

Her work — which will inform public storyboard displays from the South Bethany Historical Society — uncovered a history of shifting industry and shifting landscapes. Baltimore Hundred, the most southeastern of 33 historic subdivisions of Delaware, was once limited to subsistence farming. The area is now a key component of Delaware’s tourism industry, which draws nearly 30 million visitors a year to the state, according to the Delaware Tourism Office.

Ramirez-Santos said that she is watching a similar transformation happen in her hometown of Georgetown.

“All this rich history and all this land that passed from generation to generation just kind of slowly disappeared from the area,” she said. “These important parts of history, … if we’re not paying attention, we can lose it.”

Trembanis said that she values opportunities for AAP students beyond a classroom setting, “to be able to follow those leads wherever they go without worrying about ‘Am I going to get an A on my essay?’” Instead, she said, students can ask,”what can I uncover about the past, and what can I learn about these lives?” 

Ramirez-Santos is uncertain what major she will pursue when she comes to UD’s Newark campus next year. Trembanis is confident, though, that engaged research is a vital summer experience for students like Ramirez-Santos.

“[Ana] is going to — and has already — run into doors that don’t want to open,” Trembanis said. “That resiliency, that ability to try to find new ways to solve problems with the tools you have—no matter what path she takes — those skills are going to serve her so well.”

About Community Engagement Summer Scholars

Community Engagement Summer Scholars Scholars spend 10 weeks during the summer immersed in a community-based research or creative project under the direction of a faculty mentor. The program is open to all undergraduate students and is administered by the Community Engagement Initiative, which works to facilitate and strengthen UD’s identity and impact as an engaged research university and community partner throughout the state of Delaware and beyond.