05/09/2019
“Get to Know Our United States”
Day 8 : Delaware, named for the first governor of Virginia, Lord de la Warr
On December 7,1787, Delaware was the first state to ratify the United States Constitution, making it the first state of the United States. In fact, the state nickname is “The First State”. Delaware is abbreviated DE. It has a population of 943,732 with Willmington being the largest city (70,998 people) and Hartly being the smallest town (71 people). Dover is the capital city. The Sillmanite is the state gem (see photo below…I had to look it up because I’d never heard of it). The state bird is the Blue Hen Chicken, so Delaware is sometimes called the “Blue Hen State”. Peach Blossom is the state flower. The state motto is “Liberty and Independence”, which makes sense if you think about it. The state seal has wheat, corn, and an ox on it to symbolize the farming activities in early Delaware.
In total area, Delaware ranks 49th in the nation. It is 96 miles long and varies from nine to 35 miles wide. The total area is 1,982 square miles.
The Methodist Church of America was organized in a Barratt’s Chapel East of Frederica. Also known as the Cradle of Methodism, it was built in 1780 and is the oldest surviving church built by and for the Methodists in the United States.
In 1638, New Sweden was founded as a colony and is recognized as the first permanent colony on Delaware soil. Finnish settlers settled in Delaware in the mid-1600’s and brought the plans for the log cabin with them, which is now symbolic of the American pioneer. At the Delaware Agriculture Museum in Dover, one of these log cabins is preserved and on display. There was a Quaker merchant named Thomas Garrett who worked with Harriet Tubman and Delaware’s “Anti-Slavery Forces” to help free the slaves via the Underground Railroad. Garrett’s farm is thought to be the model for the Quaker farm in the novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Over 500 descendants of the Nanticoke Indians celebrate their heritage each September with a Nanticoke Indian Pow Wow.
There is a town in Delaware that has entirely been zoned as a historic place. In fact, the center of town sits on the National Register of Historic Places. Odessa has one of the best collections of late 18th- and early 19th- century architecture in the middle Atlantic region. There are twelve concrete observation towers along the coast that were built during WWII to protect the state’s coastal towns from German U-Boat attacks. Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library has one of the world’s finest naturalistic gardens. It is just northwest of WIllmington.
In 1785 Oliver Evans invested the automatic flour-milling machinery that revolutionized the industry. The first scheduled steam railroad in the nation began in 1831 in New Castle. In 1950, there was a frying pan built for the Delmarva Chicken Festival that is 10 feet across, holds 180 gallons of oil, and holds 800 chicken quarters.
Fisher’s Popcorn is famous for its coastal caramel corn and has been ordered from places as far as Vietnam and Indonesia.
If you would like to see some horseshoe crabs, you can see a large number of them up and down the Delaware shoreline in May. These horseshoe crabs can endure extreme temperatures and salinity and can go a year without eating. They have stayed almost the exact same for thousands of years.
This state may be small, but it sure sounds like it is worth a visit! Thank you for reading about today’s state! I’ll be back tomorrow with the next one!
