Parked at Home 2024 | #1: First State National Historical Park
The 2024 season of Parked at Home hosted by Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park (BRVNHP) returned last night — March 8, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. — with guest speaker and park ranger Samantha Baranski of First State National Historical Park (FSNHP) in Delaware.
Ranger Mark Mello of BRVNHP began the talk by reviewing the history of Pawtucket, RI just before the American Revolutionary War until the beginning of the Industrial Revolution with the construction of Old Slater Mill. He used the metaphor of a water wheel, whose revolutions change the running river into power for spinning machines, to explain the political and economic revolutions that brought changes to the area during the 18th century and 19th century. He also traced the method by which the national park was formed, from being designated a National Heritage Corridor by Congress in 1986 to choosing six sites as official National Historical Park locations in 2014 to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland establishing formal boundaries for these sites in 2021.
Baranski opened her portion of the webinar with a fun fact: Which state was the last to receive its own National Park? The answer was Delaware, ironic considering that it was the first state to secede from Great Britain and the first to sign the Constitution. First State NHP is similar to Blackstone Valley in that it is made of non-contiguous sites and received park status only recently. From south to north, the three sites of First State NHP are the Dover Green in Dover, New Castle Court House Museum in New Castle, and Brandywine Valley in Wilmington. Near these sites are additional historical attractions maintained by partner groups, another similarity to Blackstone Valley.
Dover Green was the location of the signing of the Constitution. The signing actually took place in nearby Golden Fleece Tavern, as no court building existed at the time. The capital city hosts Market Fair days with reenactments. Nearby is John Dickinson Plantation, once the estate of a founding father. Delaware Historical & Cultural Affairs provides house tours, while visitors can travel walking paths to view reproduction buildings.
New Castle Court House was the location where Delaware representatives voted to separate from the colony of Pennsylvania and Great Britain on June 15, 1776, almost a full month before the “official” separation date of July 4, 1776 celebrated by the United States, so Delaware celebrates its own Separation Day. The courthouse is considered active, meaning that trials are legally allowed to be hosted there, although the English style construction of the courtroom is not conducive to the American style of court. Nearby is the Sheriff’s House, which will become the visitor center in a few years.
Brandywine Valley is most similar to Blackstone Valley in its landscape. The 1300 acres and 27 miles of trails are in the Piedmont region, so the land is hilly instead of flat like the rest of Delaware. The area has been inhabited by humans for thousands of years, beginning with the Leni-Lenape Native Americans. When English Quaker colonist William Penn arrived, he treated the people with respect, but he also took most of the land and left them just a mile on either side of the Brandywine River. The first modern mill came to the area around 1807, while mica mining began around 1850. None of the associated buildings to these industries still stand, as they were flooded or burned over the past one hundred or more years. Likewise, Fort Christina in Wilmington, the original landing spot of Swedish colonists, no longer stands, although its approximate location is marked by a monument given by Swedish Prince Gustav Adolf to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The reproduction of Kalmar Nyckel, the tall ship on which the Swedes sailed to Delaware, floats in the harbor. Nearby, Old Swedes Historic Site maintains its original church and active cemetery where people with Swedish ancestry are still buried. Besides exploring history, visitors to this area can hike, mountain bike, ride horses, and camp in trailers.
Baranski and Mello concluded by discussing their experiences creating new parks. Rangers exploring the woods of the Brandywine Valley have found hidden ruins not far from existing trails. Rangers at both sites talk with local community members and partner organizations to gather the history of the area. National parks have no owner’s manual or directions, and both rangers compared the process of creating a park to bringing home a new baby. Official documents like cultural landscape reports and trail plans are crucial to understanding the scope of the park.
The 2024 season of Parked at Home had a strong start with a review of Blackstone Valley information and new facts about First State NHP. I greatly enjoyed learning about the history of Delaware and its connections to the area where I live. I look forward to seeing how the park continues to grow over the next few years and hope to visit some day.
Want to learn about the 2023 season of Parked at Home? Check out my summaries below.