Brandywine Creek State Park

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - Wilmington DE

The Park

Once a du Pont family dairy farm, this spectacular swath of land became a State Park in 1965. Delaware’s first two nature preserves are located here: Tulip Tree Woods and Freshwater Marsh, at the edge of Brandywine Creek. The stone walls that criss-cross the 850-acre park are the legacy of skilled Italian masons who crafted the barriers from locally quarried Brandywine granite - the original “Wilmington Blue Rocks.”

The Walks

There are eight blazed trails totaling 14 miles on both sides of the Brandywine Creek. All are short, all are woodsy and if you can’t reach out and touch the water you are moving up or down a hill. The Hidden Pond Trail and the Indian Springs Trail each travel along the water and visit 200-year old tulip polars. The star walk at Thompson’s Bridge is the rugged, 1.9-mile Rocky Run Trail, winding aroundthe closest thing to a mountain stream in Delaware. Nearby, the Multi-Use Trail tags the stream for the better part of two miles.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth - Dirt and grass

Workout For Your Dog - Some good - but not lethal - climbs

Swimming - Yes, the namesake creek is superb

Restrictions On Dogs - None

Something Extra

In the winter of 1802 a rudderless French immigrant living in New Jersey named Eleuthere Irenee du Pont was invited to the Brandywine Valley to hunt game. It was not a successful trip. The damp weather fouled his gunpowder so that his musket continually misfired. It was so bad du Pont decided to re-enter the industry he had turned his back on in France as a youth: black powder. When it came time to launch his new business he remembered what you see today in the park: the hardwood forests that would burn to charcoal, one of the ingredients he would need for powder; the abundant granite in the hills to build his mills; and the swift-flowing river to power the mills. And so he returned to Delaware to found a dynasty. Incidentally, the favorite breed of dog for the du Pont family when they lived here: the greyhound.

Phone - (302) 577.3534

Website 

Admission Fee - Yes, May to October

Directions - Talleyville, New Castle County; the main entrance is on Adams Dam Road, between Thompson’s Bridge Road (Route 92) and Rockland Road. Other parking areas are at Thompson’s Bridge and off Rockland Road, opposite Rockland Mills.