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• Our Delaware
• Small Wonder
• When It's Peach Picking Time in Delaware

Delaware Symbols

• Nicknames: The First State; The Diamond State; Blue Hen State; Small Wonder; New Sweden; Corporate Capital
• Motto: Liberty and Independence
• Colors: Colonial Blue and Buff
• Song: Our Delaware (words by George B. Hynson, music by William Brown)
• Dance: Square Dance
• Marine Animal: Horseshoe Crab
• Bird: Blue Hen Chicken (noted for their fighting ability)
• Fish: Weakfish (aka sea trout, yellow fin trout and tiderunner)
• Bug: Ladybug
• Butterfly: Tiger Swallowtail
• Tree: American Holly
• Flower: Peach Blossom
• Herb: Sweet Golden Rod
• Fossil: Belemnite
• Star: Delaware Diamond (part of Ursa Major)
• Mineral: Sillimanite
• Beverage: Milk

Facts About Delaware

• Capital: Dover
• Residents: Delewareans
• State Name Origin: named after Lord de la Warr, early Virginia governor
• Admitted to Statehood: 7 Dec 1787
• Order of Admission: 1st state
• Coastline/Shoreline: 28/381 miles
• Length: 100 miles
• Width: 30 miles
• Area: 2,489 square miles
• Size Rank: 49
• Number of Counties: 3
• Streams and Rivers: 2,509 miles
• Geographic Center: 11 miles SW of Dover in Kent Co.
• Mean Elevation: 60 feet
• Highest Point: Ebright Azimuth (in New Castle Co.), 442 feet
• Lowest Point: Atlanta Coast, sea level
• Agricultural Products: food products, chickens, fruit, vegetables
• Commercial Products: chemicals, canned foods, transportation equipment
• Average Annual Rainfall: 41.4 inches
• Average Winter High Temperature: 32 degrees
• Record Low Temperature: -17 degrees (17 Jan 1893 Millsboro)
• Average Summer High Temperature: 75 degrees
• Record High Temperature: 110 degrees (21 Jul 1930 Millsboro)
• Official Language: English
• More information about Delaware

Items of Interest

• Wilmington was the site of a final Underground Railroad station for slaves escaping from the South to freedom. The station was the home of Thomas Garrett, a Quaker merchant who became an abolitionist in 1820. He spent his entire fortune on the cause and helped more than 2,000 slaves move through Delaware. Garret is thought to be the model for a Quaker farmer in Uncle Tom's Cabin and he worked closely with Harriett Tubman.
• Barratt's Chapel east of Frederica is is where the Methodist Church of America was organized in 1784.
• Tradition holds the first time Betsy Ross's famous flag was flown was at the Battle of Cooch's Bridge in Newark.
• The Du Pont Laboratories first produced nylon at its plant in Seaford.
• The Delaware Breakwater at Cape Henlopen State Park was the first structure of its kind in the western hemisphere.
• The town of Milton was named after the English poet John Milton.

Notable Natives

Some of these people were born here, others just lived a part of their life in the state.

• Richard Allen (1760-1831) - founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
• James Asheton Bayard - politician
• Valerie Bertinelli (1960- ) - actress (Wilmington)
• Robert Montgomery Bird (1805-1854) - playwright, author (New Castle)
• Henry S. Canby - author, editor (Seidel)
• Annie Jump Cannon (1863-1941) - astronomer (Dover)
• John Middleton Clayton - statesman
• Felix Darley - artist (Claymont)
• Du Pont family - industrialists, philanthropists
• Oliver Evans - invented the automatic flour-milling machinery that revolutionized the industry in 1785
• Henry Heimlich (1920- ) - surgeon, developed the Heimlich Maneuver to save choking victims (Wilmington)
• Julius Johnson - basketball player (Wilmington)
• Jacob Jones - naval officer
• John Phillips Marquand - author (Wilmington)
• Teri Polo (1969- ) Actress (Dover)
• Howard Pyle (1853-1911) - artist, author (Wilmington)
• George Reed (1734-1798) - American patriot, supreme court justice, signer of the Declaration of Independence (Newcastle County)
• Caesar Rodney - patriot, statesman, signer of the Declaration of Independence (Kent County)
• Elisabeth Shue (1963- ) - actress (Wilmington)

You know you are from Delaware if...

• You know where, what and when the Hummers Parade is held.
• "Vacation" means going to Rehoboth or Cape "Cantaloupe" Henlopen.
• You know the best subs come from Capriotti's.
• You used to play in the wooder in the crick, and caught fraugs.
• Your school classes were canceled because of 3 snowflakes.
• The whole state panics and uses all of their road salt for those 3 snowflakes.
• You love the beach but hate the tourists.
• You know about punkin-chunkin and you have your favorite chunker.
• You know someone who went to school with one of the Capano's.
• You've eaten scrapple sandwiches.
• You can identify all the major types of manure by smell (especially chicken!)
• If it takes more than an hour to drive to, you're not going.
• You know what a "slippery" dumpling is.
• You know who YouDee is.
• Somebody in your family has worked for the DuPont Company.
• You think the "Apple Scrapple Festival" is perfectly normal, except for all those granola types running in the 5K race.
• You think, maybe, just maybe, you might get a White Christmas. Then it rains.
• The highest point in the state is a rise on the golf course.
• The state has one hill. You've been sledding on it.
• You remember WAMS and WCAU (BARSKY in the morning!).
• You know NewERK is in New Jersey, but NewARK is in Delaware.
• You know how to carefully pronounce the name Foulk Road.
• You talk of Northern Delaware and the entire Eastern Seaboard as "above the canal."
• You know the name of every street in Delaware, but have no idea what the route number is.
• When you want to go out for a nice dinner, you have to switch states.
• You can remember when Maryland Bank (MBNA) swallowed up Ogletown and Putt-Putt.
• Everywhere you go, you always run into someone you know or went to school with.
• You know what Newark Night and First Night are.
• You know exactly which roads to avoid due to the CONSTANT road construction.
• You love Dollie's salt water taffy and Grotto's Pizza. You know where all of the late-night 24-hour rest stops and restaurants are.
• You can remember when Christiana Hospital was a field with cows.
• You remember when Christiana Mall had a Galaxy arcade.
• When you go out of state to shop or eat, you are always surprised about the tax
• You know the differences in housing in Elsmere, Pike Creek, and Greenville.
• You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Delaware.