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Some Interesting Facts about Delaware

With the gorgeous shores of Rehoboth Beach a cluster of cultural gems in Wilmington, and acre upon acre of rich farmland, it's no big surprise that Delaware is nicknamed the Small Wonder.

Delaware is a small state,"a jewel among states," Thomas Jefferson called it. Only Rhode Island is smaller. The state lies mostly on the Atlantic Coastal Plain, where it form a flat, low-lying strip of land extending 96 miles (154 km) along the Delmarva Peninsula, which Delaware shares with Maryland and Virginia. Here the land seldom rises more than 80 feet (24 m) above sea level. Only Florida lies lower.

But not all of Delaware is flat. Its northern most reach, a strip only 10 miles (16 km) at its widest is an edge of the rolling foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, the Piedmont. Here the Delaware River forms the boundary between New Jersey and Delaware as it flows into Delaware Bay to meet the sea. This part of the state lies along a busy transportation corridor between northern and southern states, and has become heavily industrialized.

Wilmington one of Delaware's major cities is the largest city in the second-smallest state, Wilmington is a key industrial center but is equally proud of its Colonial past. Settled by Swedes in 1638, it later served as a camp- ground for George Washington's army en route to the Battle of Brandywine.

The Delaware Art Museum is renowned for its pre-Raphaelite paintings and illustrations by artist such as Howard Pyle and N.C. Wyeth. Other galleries highlight American paintings and illustrations by artists such as Howard Pyle and N.C. Wyeth . Other galleries highlight American painters, from Winslow Homer to Maxfield Parish.Built in the 1850's in rural Gothic style,Rockwood Museum looks like a scene out of Wuthering Heights. Its 14 display rooms, filled with original furnishings, reveal how masters and servants lived at the turn of the century. Theirs also the Hagley Museum,and the Nemours Mansion to see.

Dover is another major city in Delaware, in 1683 William Penn ordered the layout of what would become Delaware's capital city. Its wide, well-manicured green is the site of the gambrel-roofed Old State House. In a nearby tavern, state legislators were the first to ratify the U.S.Constitution. Clustered around the green is a collection of handsome 18th and 19th century homes and the nostalgic Johnson Victoria Museum. Dover Heritage Trail, Inc. offers guided walking tours of the historic green and Victorian Dover. Their in Dover is the Delaware Agricultural Museum and Village, visitors are given a taste of farm life on the Delmarva Peninsula, form the arrival of the first settlers to the mid 20th century.

Fort Delaware State Park; reached by a boat that steams out of Delaware City, this park centers around an imposing pentagon- shaped granite fort that occupies much of Pea Patch Island Surrounded by a moat, the garrison served as a prison during the Civil War. The fort's museum is a repository for host of Civil War memorabilia, and a section of its massive ramparts provides views of herons nesting in marshes below.