Old State House, Dover, DE

From my travels, September 5, 2021.

Since the boys and I had started hanging around in Delaware more, I thought it might be good to check out some of the local historical sites. Emily had visited the Old State House before, and thought it would be a fun outing, so the next time we visited with “Nene” and “Baba” we took a short drive down to Dover.

The site was originally a smaller 25′ x 25′ courthouse. That building was where the Declaration of Independence was first read aloud in Delaware – the spot is marked by a monument out front. Downstairs in the “new” building served as a county courthouse originally, and the House and Senate met in chambers upstairs. Both of those meeting rooms were surprisingly small – the Senate only had 9 members back in those days, while the House had 21.

The building has been beautifully restored. They even let us sit at the legislative desks – super cool for the boys. Each desk had the name of a member of the legislature from the 18th century, with a short biographical sketch.

Our tour concluded in a room upstairs where some Underground Railroad and abolitionist history was shared.

It was a very nice presentation and tour – especially considering that it was free.