Fort Delaware State Park
Fort Delaware State Park sits on
a 288 acre island, called Pea Patch Island, and is a state park that
was built in the 19th century by the US Army in 1815 to protect the
harbors of Wilmington, Delaware and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The
fort was burned to the ground and then rebuilt before the Civil War,
and just before the start of it was transformed into a prisoner of
war camp. During WWI and WWII, it would continue to be used as a
deterrent and for the protection of the Delaware River, and then in
1945, Pea Patch Island and Fort Delaware was made surplus by the US
Department of Defense. The Fort Delaware State Park was one of the
first state parks in the state, and started in 1951, and is accessed
by ferry alone, available for historic programs and tours. It was
listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and also a
favorite spot for hiking and picnicking. The island has a history of
appearing up out of the Delaware River in the 18th century as a mud
bank, and according to legend or folklore, got its name when a ship
carrying peas ran aground and after spilling the entire cargo,
created a garden of peas. It continued to grow, and by 1814, was big
enough for the fort to be constructed on it, creating the perfect
place for a fort to protect the river and its channel up to
Wilmington and Philadelphia. In 1859, the original log fort was
replaced by a brick and concrete structure, and was used in the
Civil War to house those Confederate soldiers that had been captured
at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. The majority of the soldiers
that died on that slab of mud were buried at the nearby Finns Point
National Cemetery in New Jersey. When the final prisoners were
released, the fort would have only a small contingent of caretakers,
and would be mostly abandoned until 1870. When trouble arose between
Spain and the United States in 1898, it was again manned, and become
the protector it had been built for. Congress authorized the
installation of three 16-inch guns to be put at the south end of the
island fort, and put into place in 1898, when the Spanish-American
War began. It was fully garrisoned until 1903, when the caretaker
force was returned. The fort was again used and staffed in 1917,
when the nation entered WWI in 1917, but the majority of troops had
moved out by 1919. After the horrific attack on Pearl Harbor, the
fort would once more see troops arriving, although by 1943, the guns
were taken away and the next year it would be abandoned for the
final time. Declared surplus by the government in 1945, it was
donated to the state of Delaware in 1947, and opened as a park in
1951.
Delaware Museum of Natural History
The
Delaware Museum of Natural History was started in 1957 by John
Eleithere du Pont by Greenville, Delaware and opened in the year
1972, and is well known for the marvelous collections of bird eggs,
seashells and birds; becoming the oldest natural history museum in
the state. John du Pont started collecting these items when he was
just a boy and wrote a number of books on birds, and thinking about
beginning a natural history museum in the state. Henry Francis du
Pont donated some land across from Winterthur for the museum, when
John asked him, and the opening had about 200 members of the du Pont
family come to it, as well as other representatives from
northeastern natural history museums. Around Christmas, each year,
the museum has hosted Dino Days since 1993, and added more space to
it in 2005, as the space was being filled to overflowing. The main
collection of the museum began with a million sea shells and 100,000
bird eggs that would be used by scientists to check the pesticide
contamination of wild species during the state's early ecological
studies. The museum started expanding its scope and now includes;
mammals, dinosaurs and Charles Darwin. Other exhibits include life
sized dinosaurs, an African watering hole, an idea of what the sea
looks beneath the surface, a jaguar, and the plethora of eggs and
birds. Some of the featured exhibits include the dinosaur gallery
with magnificent dinosaur skeletons and a science in action lab;
Hall of Mammals that showcase the creatures from Africa, North and
South American and Antarctica; plus the animals that live in the
state and thrive in its streams and fields. The Hall of Birds now
hold 118,000 species of birds and nests, with an extinct passenger
pigeon, a comparison of the hummingbird's egg to an elephant egg;
and 3D dioramas. Animal adaptions depict how animals live in their
natural habitats despite the growing environmental encroachments,
with authentic specimens of black rhino, cheetah and giant anteater.
The shell gallery houses a simulated Australian Great Barrier reef
that is quite popular to the visitors that come here and walk over
it. You can see a 500 pound giant clam shell and learn something
about mollusks, scallops and nautilus; and a giant squid that hangs
down from the ceiling and can be startling when you first notice it.
There is also a butterfly garden, the Larry Scott Nature Trail and
an exhibition on Darwin and evolution, making this museum very
interesting and helpful in understanding more about the creatures
that we live with on this huge blue marble.
