driving directions to assateague island national seashore

Doverįrom Wilmington, we headed south to Dover. We drove by, but that was about as close as we could get. Again, the site is currently completely closed for renovations. Just a few blocks away is Fort Christina, which is where the first Swedish and Finnish American settlers landed and settled the first American Swedish colony, New Sweden. We were on a bit of a time crunch, so we did not wait. The one ranger on duty was not in the Visitor Center when we arrived, rather in the church doing a tour. Alas, the church was almost completely covered in scaffolding as part of restoration when we arrived. The church is a cute little stone church surrounded by a graveyard. The Old Swedes Church in Wilmington was under renovation when we went. The church was built by Swedish and Finnish settlers in 1699. Located in the downtown area of Wilmington, not far from the Delaware River, Old Swedes Church is the oldest church in America still used for worship. We use the Passport app, rather than a physical Passport Book, so we did not seek out this center.įrom here, we continued into town to Old Swedes Church. If you collect National Park passport stamps, you can find one at the Brandywine Creek State Park Nature Center. Brandywine River in Beaver Valley at First State National Historical Park, the only national park unit in Delaware. That is one drawback of traveling in the winter. Alas, the temperatures were a bit too low for us to really get out and do much. The river is quite pretty and the area has several trails. The land was first deeded to William Penn and has been preserved since 1906. This border was the original boundary between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Delaware. Our first stop in Delaware was Beaver Valley, which is along the Brandywine River on the border of Delaware and Pennsylvania. Finally, the Ryves Holt House is located in Lewes. In Dover, you will find The Green and the John Dickinson Plantation. New Castle has the New Castle Court House. You will find Beaver Valley, Fort Christina and Old Swedes Church in Wilmington. The First State NHP is actually seven separate sites spread out across the state. Despite this, you can still enjoy a visit to First State NHP.

Even after nearly five years (we visited in 2017), the park service has not set up an official visitor center or even a staffed phone (according to the web site). Less than two years later, Congress redesignated it a national historical park Visiting First State National Historical ParkĪs a relatively new national park site, First State National Historical Park is still mostly operated by the state of Delaware. President Obama established the First State National Monument as the 400th unit of the National Park Service in March 2013. Ironically, Delaware, the first colony to adopt the new United States Constitution in 1787 (making it the first state) was the last state to have a unit of the National Park Service. Please see our Review Policy for more information.) National Parks in Delaware (Disclaimer: When we link to places you can buy our stuff or places we stayed, we are using special codes which earn us commissions on the sales at no additional cost to you. Still, when you are trying to visit all 420+ units of the National Park Service, you do what you can when you can! And, as we found out, winter weather can strike at any time, forcing parks to close to visitors. Additionally, some may technically be open but you can’t really enjoy the park and the recreational opportunities it holds, due to the weather. Unfortunately, not all of the parks are open in the winter. The visitor center at Thomas Stone National Historic Site Since most of these parks are small and quick to visit, we were able to pack a lot into just a two-week trip. On that trip, we visited sites in New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia, stopping at as many parks as we could. Our first big push to visit parks in this area was in the Winter of 2017. But, with odd hours, multi-unit parks and a wide variety of indoor and outdoor activities, we have spent several different trips visiting the national parks of Maryland and Delaware and still aren’t finished. In states as small as Maryland and Delaware, you would think that visiting all of the national park sites wouldn’t be too difficult.

Driving directions to assateague island national seashore