Upgrades are planned for White Clay Creek State Park.
The plan includes adding new trails in the part of the park acquired most recently and a larger event venue.
It also envisions converting historic buildings to cottages that could be rented out to visitors to stay a night, weekend or week - something other parks - mostly downstate - offer.
But Delaware State Parks section manager for planning, preservation and development Brooks Cahall says one of the bigger projects is a new nature center.
"The project I think we're most excited about is the new nature center. So it'll be a brand new facility. You'll have exhibit space. It'll have space for our interpretive staff as well as two classrooms to help with the public programs, school groups and our summer camps so that and inclement whether they'll be able to do stuff inside where that's not really an option now," said Cahall.
Cahall notes construction is slated to start this fall. There are also plans to replace a bridge on the road leading to the new nature center.
The bridge project should take about four-to-six months and be complete by March 2027. The nature center is an 18-month project with a projected opening in summer 2028.
Cahall says those aren’t the only upgrades planned.
"We are working on reestablishing what's known locally as the Big Pond. That's an area in the park where there was a dam failure that we're now trying to get repaired and rebuilt,” said Cahall. “We're at the point where we applied for federal permits, and we'll kind of see how that process goes."
