President Obama, using authority granted under a century-old law, is expected Monday to officially designate five sites in Delaware as the First State National Monument.
The properties — in New Castle, Dover and Brandywine Hundred — are the first in Delaware to receive the designation, and end Delaware’s dubious standing as the only state without a national park or national monument.
Sites included in the National Monument are the Old Courthouse, the Old Sheriff’s House and the Green in New Castle, the Dover Green, and the 1,100-acre Woodlawn property in northern Brandywine Hundred and adjoining portions of Delaware County, Pa.
The New Castle sites and the Dover Green were originally part of a proposal championed for more than a decade by U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Delaware) for designation as a national park. Carper’s proposal, which had the support of the rest of the state’s Congressional delegation, also included the Ryves Holt House in Lewes, the John Dickinson Mansion south of Dover and Fort Christina and Old Swedes Church in Wilmington, but those sites were not included in the president’s directive.
A spokesman for the National Park Service said they could not discuss further details about the national monument designation, and the sites it includes, until after the president’s official announcement, which is expected Monday.
The national park initiative gained momentum last summer when the Mount Cuba Foundation provided the funds to enable the Conservation Fund to purchase the Woodlawn property from Rockford Woodlawn Inc., which had preserved the property from development for more than a century. The Conservation Fund acquired the largely wooded property, which stretches to the Brandywine from west of Concord Pike, with the intention of transferring ownership to the National Park Service.
But the national park bid stalled at the end of the year when Congress, which must approve a national park designation, bogged down in its post-election lame duck session with negotiations over the so-called “fiscal cliff.”
That prompted Carper to pursue an alternate course that was the subject of frequent discussions last year — the president’s use of the 1906 Antiquities Act to designate the sites as a national monument. Many sites first designated as national monuments under the act, most notably the Grand Canyon, have subsequently been designated by Congress as national parks.
“This is not the finish line, but it’s a very good step toward the end goal, which is a National Park for Delaware,” Carper said.
The sites included in the national monument preserve and interpret resources associated with early Dutch, Swedish and English settlement as well as Delaware’s role in the events leading up to the signing of the Constitution.
“Today, not only does the national park system gain an important story about the crucial role the First State played in the founding of our country – a story that will now be preserved for generations to come – but our state can now welcome the many economic opportunities that surround a new national monument and can help boost local businesses and create jobs,” Carper said.
Carper and others have estimated that designation as a national park or monument would be worth $1 million a year or more in tourism and economic development revenue.
"Delaware played a critical role in the founding of our country and deserves this historical recognition, and Senator Carper deserves tremendous credit for getting it done," said Gov. Jack Markell. "A national designation will draw more people to discover the stories in our history and landmarks of early settlers here in the First State.”
“Delaware is a proud state, and we just got a little prouder,” said Blaine Phillips, mid-Atlantic regional director of the Conservation Fund. “We have been waiting a long time for this, but it is definitely worth waiting for.”
The official transfer of the Woodlawn property to the National Park Service is “imminent,” but no date has been set, Phillips said.
During meetings in Delaware last summer and in January officials of the National Park Service explained that, as a practical matter, there is little difference between a national park and a national monument. National Park Service officials would work with government and community leaders to develop a “management plan” for oversight of the properties. This process usually takes two to three years, officials have said.
The National Park Service has expressed a preference for using the Old Sheriff’s House, adjacent to the Old New Castle Courthouse, as headquarters for national monument operations. As part of the national monument plan, the National Park Service is expected to purchase the Old Sheriff’s House from the state.
Carper said that the Delaware Congressional delegation, along with U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.) whose district includes the Pennsylvania portion of the Woodlawn property, would continue to seek passage of legislation to give the new national monument status as a national park. And, he said, Delaware lawmakers will continue to press to have Fort Christina, Old Swedes Church, the John Dickinson Plantation and the Ryves Holt House added to the national monument and included in any national park legislation. Carper’s latest legislative effort won approval last week from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Carper and Markell both expressed thanks to President Obama for approving the national monument designation. Carper also saluted Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis for their support of the project.
“Every year, millions of Americans and countless others from across the world plan their vacations around America’s national parks and monuments,” Carper said. “After today, these visitors will find a new and exciting monument to visit in the First State and our neighbor, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
Sarah Willoughby, executive director of the Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Bureau, called the national monument designation “a huge accomplishment for our state” and looks forward to having her office assist with marketing the national monument as a tourism destination.
Willoughby said she hopes to be among the community members invited to participate in development of the monument’s management plan with the National Park Service. “The greatest thing that will be needed is signage,” especially to help travelers on Interstate 95 and other major roadways easily reach to Woodlawn property.
“It’s pretty exciting and interesting,” said Mike Connolly, executive director of the New Castle Historical Society, which operates the Amstel House and Dutch House museums. The stories associated with those sites “fit very nicely” with the theme of the national historic monument, so one should enhance the other, he said.
Connolly hopes the society will also be involved with developing the monument’s management plan. “Until then,” he said, “we won’t be doing anything different.”
