150 Weird Facts About Delaware

Famous things From Delaware

Wilmington is Delaware’s largest city.
The Lady Bug is Delaware’s official state bug.
Eleven years after the landing of the English pilgrims the first white settlement was made on Delaware soil.
In 1785 Oliver Evans of Newport invented the automatic flour-milling machinery that revolutionized the industry.
“Our Delaware” is the official state song. The words are by George Hynson, music by William Brown.
The town of Milton was named after the English poet John Milton in 1807.
Did you know that DE has the largest population of horseshoe crabs in the world? It is estimated that they (horseshoe crabs) predate the dinosaurs by more than 200 million years. The blood of these creatures is used by medical researchers to test intravenous drugs, vaccines, and medical devices.
Did you know that there is a county named “Delaware County” in Pennsylvania?
With an average speed of 25.2 Mbps, Delawareans enjoy the second-fastest internet speeds in the United States. At 28.1 megabits per second, the District of Columbia retains the top spot for the fastest wire line internet in the country.
The state’s geographic center is in Kent County, 11 mi (18 km) S of Dover.
Did you know that at 28 mi (45 km) Delaware has the 22nd-longest coastline among all U.S. states? Alaska, Florida, California, Hawaii, Louisiana, Texas, North Carolina, Oregon, Maine, and Massachusetts are the ten states with the longest coastline in the U.S., respectively.
Did you know that agriculture is state’s number 1 industry with a worth of $8 billion?
America’s newest tall ship is ten stories high and 139 feet long. The recreation is the Kalmar Nyckel that landed on the Christina River in 1638.
Quaker merchant Thomas Garret is thought to be the model for a Quaker farmer in the novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Garret and famed abolitionist Harriett Tubman worked closely with Delaware’s anti-slavery forces.
The frying pan built in 1950 for use at the Delmarva Chicken Festival is 10 feet in diameter and holds 180 gallons of oil and 800 chicken quarters.
The Delaware Breakwater at Cape Henlopen State Park was the first structure of its kind in the western hemisphere.
Middletown, despite not having a navigable waterway itself, still traces its roots to water-borne trade. It started as a tavern stop located midway on an old cart road linking Bohemia Landing in Maryland to Appoquinimink Creek in Odessa – hence the name Middletown.
Henry Hudson, sailing under the Dutch flag, is credited with Delaware’s discovery in 1609.
Seven of Delaware’s 74 governors to date — just under 10 percent — have come from Milford City. They include Ruth Ann Minner, who served as the first female governor of the state. Milford has also contributed to power elsewhere, being home to the largest solar-harnessing farm in Delaware.
In 1610, Delaware was named after the first governor of Virginia, Sir Thomas West, Lord De La Warr.
One of the first “resort beauty pageants” was held in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware in 1880. Thomas Edison served as one of the judges.
An insect species, the Bethany Beach firefly, can only be found in Delaware. The firefly was rediscovered in 1998 after disappearing for nearly 40 years.
In 2013, the governor of Delaware celebrated the incorporation of state’s one millionth legal entity, which is more than the population of the entire state.
Students in Wilmington once held the record for the world’s tallest LEGO tower. The tower stood 113 feet tall and was made of over 500,000 bricks. The new record now stands at 114 feet and over 600,000 bricks, so Delaware has some work to do to reclaim the title.
There is no sales tax in Delaware, which means the state's various malls and outlets are major attractions for tourists looking to save year-round.
Each year in Bridgeville (also the home of the aforementioned Punkin Chunkin competition), Delawareans attend the Apple Scrapple Festival, a 23-year-old celebration of two products the region is especially proud of.
Delaware has the lowest mean elevation (450 feet) of any state. Colorado has the highest mean elevation (14,440 feet) of all the states.
Delaware is the third most bike-friendly state in the U.S.
Smyrna has about 490 houses that qualify for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Most of these are incredibly well-preserved; visit the Pope-Mustard Mansion and you can still catch a whiff of the Underground Railroad Era. Other interesting buildings include the mid 18th Century Allee House and Lindens.
The majority (almost 91%) of the population of Delaware age 5 years and older speak only English at home. Nearly 5% of the state’s population speaks Spanish.
Wilmington was once home to Bob Marley, the godfather of reggae. Moving into the city in 1965, he resided at 2313 N Tatnall for 12 years together with his mom. At some point during this period, Bob worked for DuPont and Chrysler as a lab assistant/forklift driver respectively. Bob’s mom ran the Roots Music Store on market street till 1976.
Did you know that Delaware has only three counties (they are New Castle, Kent, and Sussex), the lowest number of any state? On the other hand, Texas (254 counties) has the most number of counties in the United States.
Sussex (950 square miles) is the largest county of the three, followed by Kent (594 square miles) and then New Castle (438 square miles).
First settled by the Dutch in 1631, Lewes is the first town in the first state.
Did you know that in 1638, near the mouth of the Delaware River, Swedish and Finnish people built the first log cabin in North America?
On December 7, 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the constitution of the United States. The state is also nicknamed the “First State”.
According to a 2015 study, buffering is something that Delawareans rarely have to worry about. The state enjoys the fastest Internet speeds in the country, with connection speeds higher than every other country observed with the exception of South Korea.
Move over, Florida! Kiplinger, a Washington, D.C.-based finance news and business publication, recently listed Delaware as the top state for retirees in terms of economy, crime, demographics, and tax rates.
The state is also pretty popular among cyclists. The League of American Bicyclists named it the third most bike-friendly state in the country in 2015.
Delaware plays host to the World Championship Punkin Chunkin Association's annual competition, in which nearly 50,000 spectators converge on the town of Bridgeville to watch teams—using homemade devices—attempt to launch pumpkins as far as they can. Unfortunately, the event has been canceled for the past two years because organizers have been unable to secure insurance coverage.
Parks and Recreation star Aubrey Plaza hails from Wilmington, Ryan Phillippe is from a few miles down Route 9 in New Castle, and Vice President Joe Biden went to college at the University of Delaware in Newark. He later represented the state as a U.S. Senator from 1973 until 2009.
Delaware was also a home to reggae royalty for a brief period. Bob Marley lived in the state between 1965 and 1977, and worked for the Dupont Company and at the Chrysler assembly plant in Newark. One of his children, Stephen Marley, was born in Wilmington.
Did you know that the world’s first Nylon plant was located in Seaford, Delaware? Invented in 1937 by DuPont chemist Wallace Hume Carothers, this is where one of the world’s most famous fibers was first produced on a large scale. The town is also known as the “Nylon Capital of the World.”
Seaford city, along with all land in the current southern and western Sussex County were originally settled as part Maryland Province. A mapping error however shifted Delaware’s east-west boundary from Delmar to Fenwick. Courts ruled out reverting to the original lines, and Seaford officially became part of the Diamond State.
Did you know that the privately owned Wolf Cave in Beaver Valley is the only natural cave in the state?
Delaware’s State Song (designated the official state song in 1925), “Our Delaware” contains four verses. The first three verses honor the three counties of the state while the fourth praises the state.
About 1785 American inventor Oliver Evans invented and promoted the process of continuous process milling. He built the first automated flour mill on Red-Clay Creek near Newport, Delaware.
Did you know that Annie Jump Cannon, born in Dover, classified more than 225,000 stars? She classified stars according to their temperature. She was also the first woman to become an officer in the American Astronomical Society.
It is an interesting fact to note here that in DE there are more than a million registered corporations, meaning there are more corporations than people.
Pea Patch Island in Delaware was named when a ship carrying peas ran aground and lost its cargo, which sprouted new pea plants.
Delaware Bay is home to the largest population of horseshoe crabs in the world.
The Du Pont Chemical Company (one of the world’s largest chemical companies) plays a significant role in Delaware’s economy.
Did you know that several ships have been named USS Delaware in honor of Delaware?
Newark witnessed the first flying of the US flag in battle. This happened during the Revolutionary War when British and American forces engaged in the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge. Outnumbered 4-to-1, the Revolutionaries suffered defeat and retreated back to Wilmington. Still, the experience earned in course of the crash did come in handy later on.
Ebright Azimuth – 447.85 ft. above sea level near Ebright Road in New Castle County is the highest elevation in DE. The lowest point is the Sea level along the coast.
Delaware has the ninth-largest number of millionaires per capita in the United States. Maryland, New Jersey, and Connecticut have the largest number of millionaires per capita respectively.
Delaware was last to the party in terms of getting a National Monument, which didn't happen until 2013. The First State National Monument, dedicated by President Obama and Vice President Biden, is comprised of 1100 acres of preserved land, plus a handful of historic buildings—including Dover Green, where Delawareans ratified the Constitution.
Another nickname for Delaware is the “Diamond State.” Thomas Jefferson reportedly once referred to it as a “jewel” due to its ideal location.
Delaware is the second-smallest state in the country. It stretches just under 100 miles long, and is only 35 miles at its widest point.
The Delaware River and the Delaware Bay both predate the name of the state. In 1610, English naval officer Samuel Argall named the bodies of water after the governor of Virginia, Thomas West, the 12th Baron De La Warr.
The state insect is a ladybug, thanks to a second grade class who petitioned and got it approved by the 127th General Assembly on April 25, 1974.
The 80-food Great Dune is the state’s highest. It is located at Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes.
The Maryland/Delaware boundary and the Mason-Dixon Line divide Delmar. A double crown stone marker was erected in 1768 as the southern end of the only North-South portion of the Mason-Dixon line.
Horseshoe crabs may be viewed in large numbers up and down the Delaware shore in May. The crabs endure extremes of temperature and salinity. They can also go for a year without eating and have remained basically the same since the days of the dinosaur.
The Du Pont Laboratories first produced nylon at its plant in Seaford. This earned the town the distinction of being the Nylon Capital of the World.
In recognition of sportfishing’s overall recreational and economic contributions to the state of Delaware and of the specific values of the weakfish (Cynoscion genus) as a game and food fish, the state Legislature adopted the weakfish as Delaware’s State fish in 1981. This fish is also known as sea trout, gray trout, yellow mouth, yellow fin trout, squeteague, and tiderunner.
The nation’s first scheduled steam railroad began in New Castle in 1831.
The United States battleship Delaware was commissioned in 1910.
Delaware is the only state without any National Park System units such as national parks, seashores, historic sites, battlefields, memorials, and monuments.
Delmar is popularized as the little town too big for one state. The community has the distinction of being located partly in Delaware and partly in Maryland.
The most historic site in Frederica is Barratt’s Chapel east of town. The chapel is where the Methodist Church of America was organized in 1784.
Today about 500 descendants of the original Nanticoke Indians reside in Delaware. They celebrate their heritage each September with the Nanticoke Indian Pow Wow.
Fisher’s popcorn is a famous coastal caramel corn. It has been ordered from as far away as Vietnam and Indonesia.
The American holly is the official state tree. The tree can reach a maximum of 60 feet in height and a trunk diameter of 20 inches.
The peach blossom is Delaware’s official state flower and has prompted Delaware’s nickname as the peach state.
New Sweden was founded as a colony in 1638 and is recognized as the first permanent colony on Delaware soil.
Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, six miles northwest of Wilmington features one of the world’s finest naturalistic gardens.
Hagley Museum was originally the du Pont black powder manufactory, estate, and gardens.
In 1812 Port Penn was considered the best port in Delaware.
Augustine Beach was named for Augustine Hermann. He was a Bohemian adventurer who mapped the Delmarva Peninsula and surrounding areas in the mid-1600s.
Odessa possesses one of the finest collections of late 18th- and early 19th-century architecture in the middle Atlantic region. The center of town is on the National Register of Historic Places and the entire town has been zoned as historic.
Barratt’s Chapel is known as the Cradle of Methodism. It was built in 1780 and is the oldest surviving church built by and for Methodists in the United States.
Colonial blue and buff are Delaware’s official state colors.
Delaware was named for Lord de la Warr. He was the first governor of Virginia.
The first known inhabitants of the region we now call Delaware were the Lenni Lenape and the Nanticoke, tribes that combined to form the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape confederation.
Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution on December 7, 1787, five days before any other province or colony. In 2002, a first grade class requested that the nickname “The First State” be made official.
Brigadier-General Caesar Rodney of Dover, the guy on the back of the 1999 Delaware state quarter, rode 80 miles on horseback overnight to Philadelphia on July 1, 1776 to cast an important vote—despite suffering from asthma and skin cancer. His vote was the deciding factor in favor of the nation’s independence.
If team sports are more your speed, several of Delaware's state parks offer 18-hole disc golf courses. Not familiar with the game? Check out the official rules over at the Professional Disc Golf Association's website.
The University of Delaware offered the country's first study abroad program in 1923, when a professor and WWI veteran, citing the importance of cross-cultural exchange, set sail for France along with eight juniors.
Despite being the second-smallest state, Delaware is also the sixth most densely populated state in America.
Set at the fictional Welton Academy of Vermont, the film Dead Poet’s Society (1989) was shot at St. Andrews School in Middletown. Some of the actors weren’t used to small town life during production; star Robin Williams was quoted as saying that “staying in a hotel room in a town that shuts down at 5 o'clock at night can be boring.”
The Dogfish Head Craft Brewery was founded in Milton, Delaware in 1995 and now sells its 25 styles of beer in more than 25 states across the country. They even introduced a beer with scrapple in it back in 2014.
Dover played a pivotal role in shaping the US Constitution. Delegates from the 13 original colonies often met at the Golden Fleece Tavern to review the draft, eventually coming to an agreement on 7 Dec 1787. The tavern no longer stands, but there’s a commemorative marker on its original site.
According to legend, Thomas Jefferson called Delaware a “jewel” among states because of its strategic location along the East Coast.
Did you know that Sussex County raises more broiler chicken than any other county in the United States? It is home to the headquarters of 3 of the Top 20 broiler-producing companies in the country.
Did you know that after Rhode Island, Delaware it is the second smallest state in the United States? However, due to its small size, it is also the sixth most densely populated of the fifty states of the U.S.
Interestingly, in 1776, the deciding vote for the American Independence was cast by Caesar Rodney who had to ride eighty miles to Philadelphia through rain and thunder.
Delaware is also corporate heaven because of its business-friendly corporation laws. In fact, more than 50% of all the U.S. publicly traded companies and 66% of the Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware. It is easier and cheaper for a company to incorporate in Delaware than in most other states, even if the company conducts most of its business outside of the state.
Delaware is one of the only five states without a sales tax. Other states that do not have a sales tax are Alaska, Oregon, Montana, and New Hampshire.
The Delaware Memorial Bridge that connects Delaware with New Jersey is one of the world’s longest suspension bridges.
If you pay attention to the geography of the state, Delaware is 96 miles long and varies from 9 to 35 miles in width.
Georgetown was originally planned around a one-mile wide circle that still serves as the center of town to this day — it’s this that gives Georgetown the distinct circular layout. The town also stands out for the diversity of its population: minorities make up just under 50% of total residents.
Elsmere measures exactly one square mile in size — pretty neat, right? It’s interesting to note that the town still has room for recreational parks in its small footprint (Veterans Park, Fairgrounds Park, Vilone Park, and a lot more).
Ryan Phillippe, who plays a key character in the classic horror film “I Know What You Did Last Summer”, hails from New Castle. Those who haven’t watched the film will recognize Ryan from other characters he’s played; Louis Roulet in “The Lincoln Lawyer”, and Bob Lee Swagger on the TV drama “Shooter” among others.
Delaware was the first state to ratify the United States constitution. It did so on December 7, 1787.
Delaware shares a semi-circular border with Pennsylvania. The border was drawn at the time of the original land grants to William Penn from King Charles II and the Duke of York.
The log cabin originated in Finland. Finnish settlers arrived in Delaware in the mid-1600s and brought with them plans for the log cabin, one of the enduring symbols of the American pioneer. One of the cabins has been preserved and is on display at the Delaware Agricultural Museum in Dover.
John Dickinson was called the Penman of the Revolution for his writings on independence. His boyhood home is preserved in Dover.
Tradition holds the first time Betsy Ross’s famous flag was flown was at the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge. This historic site is located on route 4 in Newark.
The Blue Hen chicken is the official state bird. The hens were noted for their fighting ability. Delaware is sometimes referred to as the Blue Hen State.
In total area Delaware ranks 49th in the nation. It contains 1,982 square miles. It is 96 miles long and varies from 9 to 35 miles in width.
Ebright Road in New Castle County is the highest state elevation at 442 feet above sea level. The lowest elevation is along the coast at sea level.
Thomas Garret lost his entire fortune in his battle against slavery. He was sued by a Maryland slave owner and fined for aiding a black family in flight. Over his lifetime, Garrett reportedly helped more than 2,000 fugitive slaves move through Delaware, an important stop on the Underground Railroad.
Rehoboth Beach is the state’s largest coastal resort town. Methodists who purchase the land for a summer camp and meeting place originally constructed it.
The 87-foot Fenwick Island Lighthouse was painted in 1880 for a total cost of about $5.00.
Twelve concrete observation towers along the coast were constructed during World War II to protect the state’s coastal towns from German u-boat attacks.
The state’s Coastal Heritage Greenway consists of a corridor of open space running along 90 miles of coast and spanning the area between Fox Point State Park and the state line at Fenwick Island.
Thousand Acre Marsh is the largest freshwater tidal wetland in northern Delaware. The Chesapeake and Delaware Canals border the marsh.
The sheaf of wheat, ear of corn, and the ox on the state seal symbolize the farming activities of early Delaware.
The Delaware Indians were one of the most advanced tribes of the eastern United States.
New Castle County includes the largest population and smallest area of Delaware’s three counties.
Wilmington’s Delaware History Center is housed in a renovated, art deco former Woolworth five-and-ten-cent store.

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