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WILMINGTON, DELAWARE AND THE SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES

Delaware, the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution has a rich heritage and natural beauty, a wealth of museums, cultural attractions, educational institutions, and historic sites. Easily accessible to Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington D.C., Delaware’s largest county is New Castle with over 450,000 people. Wilmington, the state’s largest city, is the business and cultural center of Northern Delaware. Corporate headquarters for major chemical companies share the downtown area with a significant number of local and national financial institutions.

Brandywine River Museum

Visitor Center at Winterthur Gardens

Recent years have brought renovations and restorations to large sections of the city, complete with fashionable townhomes, condos, single detached homes, and an ever broadening of cultural and recreational arts activities. The suburban areas of New Castle County and the surrounding Brandywine Valley offer many different types of living. Areas such as Brandywine Hundred, Greenville, Hockessin, Newark, Christiana/Bear, Middletown, and Chadds Ford, Landenberg and Kennett Square, Pennsylvania to name a few, pose opportunities for any lifestyle.

Delaware began its history as the European’s earliest settlement in 1638 when a Swedish warship landed at the Christina River. New Sweden soon passed into Dutch and then English control. Delaware, then known as "Lower Counties of Pennsylvania", was incorporated into William Penn’s colony in 1683.

Brandywine Battlefield

Delaware Museum of Natural History

On the banks of the beautiful Brandywine River, E.I. Dupont opened his black gun powder mill. From 1802 to 1921 these and other mills produced gunpowder for many soldiers, governmental projects (the building of the railroads and Panama Canal) and hunters. Modern chemical industry sprang up from these gun powder mills and Delaware is now headquarters for many international chemical companies (Hercules, Dupont, Astra-Zeneca).

Financial institutions, mainly credit card banks, began moving into Delaware because of business-friendly laws. Many American corporations are incorporated in Delaware and are officially headquartered there.

Delaware offers tax-free shopping with potential savings of 6% or more on purchases. Shopping centers abound from upscale boutiques to outlet centers. The regional malls of Concord and Christiana have many fine stores with apparel, shoes, jewelry, cards, books, gifts, china, cookware and many others items. The Centerville and Greenville town centers offer a variety of small specialty shops, galleries and restaurants to patronize. The city of Wilmington has gone under a renaissance in the Waterfront area with the creation of the outlet center plus the opening of USA Riverfront Art Center and the Blue Rocks Minor League Baseball stadium.

Just over 1 ½ hours from Wilmington is Delaware’s Atlantic Ocean resorts (Rehoboth, Bethany and Dewey) with beautiful beaches and fun boardwalks. Save everyday at hundreds of manufacturer’s outlets within a 2-mile stretch of Route One in Rehoboth Beach. Nearby Southern Chester County, Pennsylvania, offers many historical and cultural sites such as the Brandywine River Museum, Longwood Gardens, and Brandywine Battlefield. In recent years, the population of Chester County has grown tremulously due to the new development.

A Quiet Scene in Centerville