Welcome back to National Parks and other public lands with T!

First State National Historical Park➤

First State National Historic Park encompasses places and events related to the founding of the nation. Swedish, Dutch, and Finnish immigrants settled in Delaware (considered part of Pennsylvania in colonial times.) The settlers established their own legislative body in New Castle in 1704 and separated from Pennsylvania in 1776.

On December 7, 1787 state delegates met in Dover to ratify the US Constitution. This made Delaware the first state to ratify, hence the name of the park.

First State National Historical Park consists of six individual sites spread throughout the state of Delaware. The six sites are: Brandywine Valley, Fort Christina, Old Swedes Historic Site, New Castle Court House Museum, the Dover Green and the John Dickinson Plantation.

Brandywine Creek State Park➤

Brandywine Creek State Park adjoins the Brandywine Valley unit of First State National Historical Park. It also shares a border with the Brandywine Valley National Scenic Byway. Most of Brandywine Creek State Park was originally a portion of the du Pont family’s Winterthur estate. The second Henry du Pont started a working dairy farm on the area that eventually became the park.

In 1965, when developers eyed the now-available area for housing, local citizens petitioned the state to preserve the land. The state used a grant from the United States Land and Water Conservation Fund to purchase the 433 acres. William Poole Bancroft’s Woodlawn Trustees donated an additional 500 acres to the park in 1981. Woodlawn also donated the 1000 acres that became First State’s Brandywine Valley unit.

We took the Tulip Tree Woods Nature Preserve Trail. This preserve contains an old-growth Tulip tree rich woods, relatively undisturbed for two centuries. Unfortunately, we cut our visit to this park short as we received word while there that my Dad had passed away. Today would have been his 80th birthday. This post is for him. The butterfly we saw on our way out of the park reminded me that, even in the darkest hours, life is beautiful.

First State Posts➤

• New Castle Courthouse
• Brandywine Valley
• Brandywine Creek State Park

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Location: 41 Adams Dam Rd, Wilmington, DE 19807
Designation: State Park
Date designated/established: 1965
Date of my visit: July 28, 2021