Pick a tour: Explore themes in Delaware's national historical park

Ethan McKinley, the superintendent of Delaware's seven-site First State National Historical Park, can easily see the ribbons of geography, history and culture that bind the park into a whole.

And to help visitors see it, too, he's designed five tours that focus on different aspects, from the pristine landscapes that would have supported Native Americans and welcomed colonists, to the dawn of the industrial age and the changes it wrought.

From north to south, those sites are Beaver Valley, Fort Christina, Old Swedes Church, New Castle Court House, the Dover Green, John Dickinson Plantation and Ryves Holt House in Lewes. 

The themes can easily be enhanced by venturing outside the park’s borders: Lewes, Dover, Wilmington and the Brandywine Valley are filled with historic sites, interesting architecture and lovely spots to get close to nature. 

McKinley likes to start in Beaver Valley, a living reminder of how Delaware was carved by William Penn from lands once consider Pennsylvania. The scale and layout of the land capture how it was used and subdivided by generations of Quaker families, he says.

“Exploring Beaver Valley is a great way to contextualize the park and show why people settled here,” McKinley says. “It’s a place frozen in time.” 

Here's how he recommends visitors go exploring.

Founding the New World

• Ryves Holt House is Delaware’s oldest house. It dates back to 1665, just 34 years after the first European settlement of Delaware, a Dutch commercial effort called Zwaanendael that only lasted a year. The Dutch returned in 1658 to settle, creating Lewes.

“The Dutch and Swedes often get little mention in American history and the story of the country’s mixing pot,” said Michael DiPaolo, executive director of the Lewes Historical Society, which uses the Ryves Holt House as its visitor center. “But once they hear about it, they’re intrigued by it.”

• Fort Christina is where the Swedes first landed in 1638, and only the boulders that gave the name to the site (The Rocks) remain from so long ago. Visitors will get a deeper and more fulfilling perspective on New Sweden at the adjacent Kalmar Nyckel Foundation (a museum and a re-creation of a tall ship used four times by Swedish and Finnish settlers) and Old Swedes Church, built in 1698-99 a short walk away. The Christina Cultural Trail Pass for all three is $8. The church’s roots go back to 1640, when the first services led by a priest of the Church of Sweden were held at Fort Christina.

More:Kalmar Nyckel becomes official Tall Ship of Delaware

• New Castle was founded in 1651, and its strategic location drew shifting control by the Dutch, Swedes and British. The New Castle Court House was built in 1732 on the foundation of a 1680s court, and the site served as Delaware’s first court and state capitol. “Three Forts, One Community,” an exhibit in the museum, covers the European power play and Native Americans. “The three Delaware counties grew to resent Pennsylvania’s Quaker-led assembly and in 1704 established their own legislature in New Castle,” according to to the park’s new brochure.

• William Penn founded Dover in 1683, right after he landed in the New World. He called for three squares: Meetinghouse Square (for the Quakers like him), Church Square (the first Presbyterian church was built in 1708) and Courthouse Square, which became The Green and was laid out in 1717.

• In the early 18th century, first- and second-generation Quaker immigrants established farms and mills along the Beaver and Brandywine creeks. Swaths are still farmed (Ramsey’s Farm offers school field trips and a fall fun for all, with details at www.ramseysfarm.com), but modern technology means you’ll only see remnants of the mills.

Becoming America

• John Dickinson was nicknamed the penman of the revolution because of his passionate writing, starting with 12 letters in 1767-68 that “were an appeal to reason to avert or postpone a break with England,” the National Park Service says. “From infancy, I was taught to love humanity and liberty,” he wrote in the first letter, anonymously credited to “a farmer in Pennsylvania.” “Our goal is to bring his story to life and show that the words he penned 250 years ago are still full of meaning today,” said Gloria Henry, supervisor of the plantation.

• At the New Castle Court House on June 15, 1776, the Assembly of the Three Lower Counties declared independence from Pennsylvania and England and decided to call the colony the Counties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex Upon Delaware. Separation Day is celebrated with a festival in mid-June. The Declaration of Independence was first read in Delaware from the building balcony on July 14, 1776. Museum staffers conduct two indoor building tours for the general public, one a basic tour and another on the Underground Railroad and key trials there. 

• Wartime fears led Delaware to move its capital from New Castle to Dover in 1777. At the Golden Fleece, a now-demolished tavern on Dover’s Green, 30 men voted on Dec. 7, 1787 to ratify the new U.S. Constitution, making Delaware the first state. That vote is celebrated as Delaware Day. The tavern also hosted the 1790 discussion of the Bill of Rights. The Old State House on the Green housed Delaware’s legislature from its 1791 construction to the 1933 move to Legislative Hall.

• The Lewes Historical Society in April started hosting tavern talks at the Ryves Holt House, which DiPaolo called “interactive debates” about the pressing issues of 1777. These programs get their title from the house (once a tavern), historical context (Colonial taverns served as meeting places) and ambiance (beer for the modern sessions). The house was also a witness, he said, to nearby riots over how delegates were elected to that Constitutional meeting at the Golden Fleece, and that argument pitting western vs. eastern Sussex eventually led to moving the county seat to Georgetown. 

Lewes was a key access point for vessels trading to and from Philadelphia (America’s capital from 1790 to 1800), and the subject of a blockade and bombardment in April 1813, as part of the War of 1812. A memorable reminder is the historical society’s maritime museum, called the Cannonball House for the cannonball stuck in its side. The society programs multiple historic structures, including the Lewes History Museum, not quite a mile away, at 101 Adams Ave. 

• Soldiers, primarily British and Hessians, were quartered near Old Swedes Church during the Revolutionary War, said Rebecca Wilson, executive director of the Old Swedes Foundation. Records also show them demanding religious services in the church.

Delaware’s natural side

• With the rolling hills, mossy stone walls, serene woods, meandering waterways and a patchwork of farmland, the 1,100 acres that form Beaver Valley are the most picturesque part of the park. The best spots to start exploring are from the Smith Bridge or Thompsons Bridge parking areas, which also offer picnic tables, fishing and canoe/tubing access. Eighteen miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding crisscross the park and connect to Brandywine Creek State Park to the south.

“The park is extremely biodiverse,” McKinley said, with bald eagles and great herons among its signature species. Citizen scientists in 2016 documented 116 species in Beaver Valley. An app called iNaturalist helps visitors identify new species and add to the total.

“It’s the next best thing to having a ranger at your shoulder,” he said.

Cloverleaf Stables offers horseback rides from its Beaver Valley Road stables. A reservation-only one-hour ride is $50, and longer rides allow time to take horses swimming or explore more of the 2,000 acres in the federal park and adjacent green space. Details: http://cloverleaf-stables.com, 484-841-6230.

Wilderness Canoe Trips offers $23 unguided tubing trips in warmer weather from Smith Bridge to Thompson Bridge. The Brandywine is “a very slow, meandering river,” it says on www.wildernesscanoetrips.com, averaging 2 to 3 feet deep. The 1.5-mile trip takes two hours. 

The Wilmington Trail Club often organizes hikes in the park. Details: www.wilmingtontrailclub.org. 

Those fishing, except children and seniors, need state fishing licenses and must follow state rules. Catch-and-release is recommended, and if fish are eaten, the state recommends consumption limits.

“Brandywine Creek proper (non-tidal) has the largest population of smallmouth bass in the state, and also contains largemouth bass, rock bass, bluegill, redbreast sunfish, pumpkinseed, crappie, channel catfish, muskellunge, tiger muskellunge, white sucker, yellow perch, common carp,” the state says. “Species in Beaver Run are typically smaller fish — smallmouth, largemouth, rock bass, bluegill, redbreast sunfish, pumpkinseed, catfish, white suckers, yellow perch, common carp.” Beaver Run, in the northern edge of Beaver Valley, is also stocked with trout.

Stream Stewards, a program coordinated by the Nature Conservancy, involves citizen scientists to track the health of the waterways in Beaver Valley — source of all of Wilmington’s water. Details: www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/delaware/events/delaware-stream-stewards-citizen-science.xml.  

A few families enjoy the valley all the time by renting a house there. The most spectacular recent listing was an 18th-century stone colonial with a five-car garage and pond on 2 acres. 

Delaware’s only cave, which inspired the cave in “Dead Poets Society,” is on Beaver Dam Road.

• From Fort Christina, anglers are most likely to encounter white sucker, channel catfish, bluegill, largemouth bass, crappie, pumpkinseed, redbreast sunfish, common carp and yellow perch.

• “The Green is a really cool microcosm of trees,” said Sarah Zimmerman, superintendent of First State Heritage Park, noting it includes elm, sycamore, dawn redwood, juniper, maple, locust, holly and Kentucky coffee. It looks nice now, but that’s a Victorian creation. Old newspapers ran complaints about broken fences, scraggly grass and feeding pigs (but cows were OK). The Green hosts Dover Days (starting in 2018), summer concerts, a Shakespeare play and an 18th-century market fair.

• John Dickinson cared about preservation, said Gloria Henry, site manager of the John Dickinson Plantation. He told his slaves (he released them by 1786) and tenants (he had a lot, since he owned 5,000 acres, although the plantation is down to 18) they couldn’t cut down healthy live trees.

Make a Splash, an annual festival, teaches hundreds of schoolchildren about water resources at the plantation and the St. Jones Reserve.

More:Frog Hollow, a Wilmington Garden Club tour staple, gets new owners

Biking the route

 A devoted cyclist could hit all the sites, but it’s about 100 miles, longer to avoid busy roads.

It’s much more realistic to bike the between Dover’s Green and the John Dickinson Plantation. A less-trafficked route takes 9 miles along Del. 8/South Little Creek Road and Del. 9/Bayside Drive.

The four New Castle County sites are doable by bike, especially after the Jack Markell Trail opens in June, after a decade of advocacy. The 8-mile trail runs south from the Wilmington Riverfront, tied to a 1.5-mile trail running to the New Castle Court House. From the Wilmington Riverfront, city streets reach Fort Christina and Old Swedes Church and then north to the Brandywine. 

The Northern Delaware Greenway then gives bicyclists a decent ride (watch out for the bumps and the steep grade in Alapocas Run State Park), and it’s back to roadways until a dedicated trail pops up in Brandywine Creek State Park, leading directly into another dedicated trail in Beaver Valley. 

On delawaregreenways.org, Delaware Greenways colors in trail ideas that would cover the entire length of the Brandywine, from the Pennsylvania line to its juncture with the Christina.

All about architecture

• The area around the New Castle Court House is second in the country in number and authenticity of its Colonial and Federal structures. The courthouse is in Georgian style, and a window on the floor allows visitors to peek into the 1680s foundation. Some interesting elements in the museum, according to site supervisor Cindy Snyder, include a chair for the Assembly speaker, used since Colonial days; and ironclad doors installed in an 1845 renovation in an attempt to make some rooms fireproof.

Interesting elements that used to exist nearby include a 44-cell jail that began the county prison system, a separate debtors prison and a whipping post (whipping was legal in Delaware until 1952) with a pillory on a platform on the top.

The adjacent Sheriff’s House, planned to become the park visitor center, is an 1858 Victorian brownstone. Three walking tours run by the museum explore the area, focusing on the Green, veterans and nearby buildings.

• Old Swedes Church has the oldest known pulpit in the U.S., with a canopy projecting the speaker’s voice. The pews, 1899 reproductions, could be closed to keep out drafts and are raised so the doors would not catch on the uneven brick floor. Even so, “worshippers often brought heated rocks or pans of hot coals into their pews to keep themselves warm,” the church says. Through the 1700s, Swedish custom called for men on the right and women on the left. 

The congregation outgrew Old Swedes, building Trinity Chapel at Fifth and King streets in 1830 and moving again in 1882 to Adams Street. Along the way, members restored Old Swedes. One unusual element they left is graffiti — mostly just initials and dates but also a drawing of the church. 

The Hendrickson House was moved from Pennsylvania to the grounds in 1958. Although some date it to before 1690, Wilson said the latest research places its construction to 1720 to 1736. It was likely built for new widow Catherine Hendrickson and is “a large home for a wealthy family,” Wilson said.

• John Dickinson’s father built the main house in 1739-40, and it stayed in the family until 1933, becoming a museum in 1956. It’s an early Georgian mansion (restored after an 1804 fire), illustrating “telescope type of planning, in which a series of smaller wings are added to the main house at later dates,” the National Park Service says. 

Multiple outbuildings have been reconstructed: granary, feed barn, double corn crib, stable, smokehouse and slave/tenant house (a log cabin with a dirt floor).
The plantation only has a few items owned by John Dickinson, Henry said, including his travel inkwell, a razor he planned to give as a gift, a teapot, some plates and some books.

• First State Heritage Park includes several buildings on The Green. One is the John Bell House, probably built as a simple workshop in the 1740s, used for multiple purposes over the decades, including a post office, and now as the park visitor center. “It’s just a humble building, but visitors are intrigued that it’s been there the whole time,” Zimmerman said. It’s a rare example of Chesapeake vernacular style — rare because most such wooden buildings have not lasted the centuries.

Another interesting building on The Green is the Old State House, built in 1791 in Georgian style. Notable details include the gilt sunflower ceiling sham and the dual stairways up to the legislative chambers. And the Kent County Courthouse, built in 1874 in Second Empire style, is open for First Saturday programs, in which varied sites in the park explore the same theme once a month.

All the other buildings on The Green are private residences or offices, Zimmerman said, highlighting the Parke-Ridgely House, which was built in the 1730s in the hall and parlor style and renovated over the centuries in styles reflecting the changing look of the area. The Green is also a microcosm of architectural styles, including Second Empire and Italianate.

Architectural tours of Dover’s Green are offered on some Saturdays, on by appointment for groups.

• The stone farmhouses dotting Beaver Valley are “similar in size, materials, layouts and ornamentation to those forbearers in England and Ireland,” the park says. As technology and the economics of farming changed, structures like bank barns and springhouses were abandoned. At least eight structures from the 18th century remain on the property, preserved as a private park starting in 1906 by Quaker industrialist William Poole Bancroft. 

• The Ryves Holt House (named for Delaware’s first chief justice, also speaker of the House and a sheriff) is in Delaware Valley Dutch vernacular style. It’s one of 14 Lewes Historical Society buildings of varied styles, including an 1898 bank used as the museum store; the Cannonball House from about 1760, with its War of 1812 cannonball; the 1884 Life-Saving Station, which the society says is “best known for its heroic surfmen’s actions during the great blizzard of 1888”; and the society museum.

The nine buildings in the society’s Shipcarpenter Street complex include a plank house from about 1690; a house from about 1720; a house from about 1740, which the society says “reflects the hard and simple life of southern Delaware’s 18th century farmers”; a Federal-style house from about 1789; a blacksmith shop from about 1790; a clapboard Sussex County farmhouse from about 1800; a country store from about 1800; a doctor’s office from 1840, the only example of Greek Revival architecture in Lewes; and a one-room school from 1898. The 1720 house is the only one on its original foundation. Period furnishings make the past come alive in all of them.

“Delaware’s natural resources were historically valued for serving human needs,” the park brochure says. “Today, thanks to Bancroft and many others, they are valued for just being themselves.”

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IF YOU GO

First State National Historical Park consists of seven sites. Admission is free unless indicated, and some activities and visits to nearby points of interest might have fees. Holidays affect the hours below. 

• Beaver Valley, east of the Brandywine Creek and north of Wilmington. Sunrise to sunset daily for recreational areas and trails.

• Old Swedes Church, 606 N. Church St., Wilmington. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays April-December, with hours curtailed the rest of year. Free-$5. www.oldswedes.org.

• Fort Christina National Historic Landmark, 1110 E. Seventh St., Wilmington. The area is usually locked and can therefore can be quickly appreciated through the gates. Visitors can go in depth in prearranged tours. In the summer, it’s open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays and noon-4 p.m. Sundays for touring, picnicking and fishing, plus special events.

• New Castle Court House Museum, 211 Delaware St., New Castle. 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays and 1-4:30 p.m. Sundays. history.delaware.gov/museums/ncch/visitors.shtml.

• John Dickinson Plantation, 340 Kitts Hummock Road, Dover. 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, plus 1:30-4:30 p.m. Sundays April-December. history.delaware.gov/museums/jdp/jdp_main.shtml.

• The Green, downtown Dover. 24/7 access, with indoor attractions in First State Heritage Park usually open 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays. www.destateparks.com/park/first-state-heritage/index.asp. 

• Ryves Holt House, 218 Second St., Lewes. Hours vary, with noon-4 p.m. weekends the most common. historiclewes.org/visit/society-properties 

WHAT: Festival at the Fort, Kalmar Nyckel to Old Swedes

WHEN: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday, April 22

WHERE: Kalmar Nyckel Shipyard, Fort Christina Park, Old Swedes Historic Site

ADMISSION: Free

ACTIVITIES: Food trucks, live music, Kalmar Nyckel ship tours, river taxi rides, scavenger hunt, children’s games and historical re-enactments