Delaware may have been the first state to join the union, but it remains the only state without its own national park.

But a bill introduced by Delaware’s congressional delegation Oct. 20 seeks to change that by tying together a collection of significant historic sites across the state under the banner of a single historical district.

The proposed First State Historical Park would encompass a wide range of Delaware history, from the earliest Swedish and Dutch colonists of the mid-1600s to the constitutional ratification that earned the state its nickname.

Headquartered in old New Castle, the National Park Service would administer a total of nine historic sites in all three counties including Fort Christina, The Green in Dover, downtown Lewes and the homes of several Delaware patriots.

Though the park service expects to hire five to seven rangers to serve the state, in some cases the sites will be administered with the help of local organizations that already run them, like the Delaware Historical Society and the state Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs.

The bill also calls for $5.5 million in federal funds to help establish a visitors’ center and cover the costs of new exhibits, displays and additional preservation work.

Sen. Tom Carper, who co-authored the bill with Sen. Ted Kaufman, said its taken years to produce a workable proposal for a national park in Delaware.

The current plan is the result of a 2005 National Park Service study commissioned by an act of Congress, but the idea for a historical park that spans the state came from a citizens’ working group created by Carper after he took office 2002.

“They gathered all kids of ideas, some very unusual ideas that included having a national park off the coast of Cape Henlopen, and the park would be a collection of shipwrecks that could only be reached by divers,” he said. “They also came up with a very unique park that would celebrate our coastal heritage, from the rocks in Wilmington all the way down the coast.”

By the time the park service got involved, the group’s ideas were more refined and could be made to fit the specific rules for establishing a national park.

“There are requirements for the National Park Service and you have to fit those needs, new parks need to fit niches that they don’t have any programming in,” said Tim Slavin, director of the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs.

Terry Moore, chief of planning for the park service’s northeast region, said Delaware’s wide variety of unique historic sites related to different colonial settlers foots the bill.

“All of the ones that we included are national historic landmarks, which automatically carry the designation of national significance,” he said. “We don’t have anything within the system or other significant places throughout the country that look at the early settlement patterns of the Dutch, Swedish and English in that succession.”

Moore also said Delaware fits well into the National Historical Park model. Out of the 45 such parks across the country, many feature several historical sites at different locations.

“It’s not common, but not necessarily unusual,” he said. “We have a number of places where resources are not all in one single location.”

Slavin said the national park designation will do more than just add a few new plaques to some historic buildings, it will help preservation groups expand on the work they do.

“Besides the parks that are open to the public, the National Park Service has a very deep and rich tradition of historical research to support the things they do and the things they say in the parks to make sure there’s accuracy, there’s relevance and there’s balance to what they’re doing,” he said.
“It’s a very exciting for us to be able to partner with them on archeological issues and historical research and interpretation issues.”

Michele Anstine of the Delaware Historical Society is in charge the Stonum mansion in New Castle, home Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution signatory George Read.

She said the prospect of additional funding from the parks service is exciting.

“There are always things that we’d like to do in unearthing our history, learning things about the house or exploring the property that surrounds the house” she said. “We’d like to have the ability to talk about the many different people who lived and worked on the property from the colonial period through the present and do a little more investigation, whether it’s looking at historical documents or some archaeology to put together some of the pieces of the puzzle.”

But before the sites named in the bill receive any help, financial or otherwise, it has to become law.

The senators and Rep. Mike Castle, who sponsored identical legislation in the House, are optimistic.

Carper said the Senate Energy Committee will likely consider the bill early next year, but he’s already mustered ample support for the plan.

“[Secretary of the Interior] Ken Salazar came to New Castle and said, ‘Delaware, you’re going to get your park,’” Carper said.

And even though there’s money attached to the proposal, Carper contends it’s a small price to finally bring Delaware a park.

“It will be a bargain compared to most national parks, the cost of running Delaware’s national park will be modest capered to most other national parks,” he said. “This is not Yellowstone, this is not the Grand Canyon.”

A collection of historic sites across the state would comprise the First State National Historical Park

1. The New Castle Historic District: Includes Fort Casimir, established by the Dutch in 1651, as well as the Old New Castle Courthouse and other historic buildings from the colonial era
2. Fort Christina, Wilmington: Central site of the first Swedish Settlement in North America, established in 1638
3. The Old Swedes Church, Wilmington: Constructed adjacent to Fort Christina in 1698 and considered to be the oldest church building in the country still standing as originally built
4. The John Dickinson Plantation, Dover: Home of John Dickinson, one of Delaware’s five signers of the U.S. Constitution and known as the “Penman of the Revolution.”
5. Lombardy Hall, Wilmington: Home of Gunning Bedford Jr., a delegate in the Continental Congress and a signer of the U.S. Constitution
6. Stonum, New Castle: Home of George Read, a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, as well as Delaware’s first U.S. Senator.
7. The Lewes Historical District: Includes the Ryves Holt House, which was built in 1665 and is the oldest building still standing in Delaware.
8. Old Sussex Country Courthouse, Georgetown: Constructed in 1837 to replace the original courthouse, built in 1791.
9. The Green, Dover: Built in 1717 according to plans drawn up by William Penn in 1638, it includes the Old State House and the site of the Golden Fleece Tavern, where Delaware’s legislature voted to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

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