On July 1, 1776, Caesar Rodney was called on to break the tie for Delaware’s vote for independence. Delaware’s two other delegates to the Continental Congress disagreed. He rode a horse through the night from Dover to Philadelphia the following afternoon to support independence. Following the defeat of the British in the American Revolutionary War, the state became the first to ratify the U.S. Constitution in 1787, making it the first state.
While larger Wilmington is the bustling commercial hub of the state, Dover is the quiet and pretty state capital. There were hardly any cars on the street the long weekend I visited and I might have seen about 15 other people walking on the sidewalks in front of the state senate. Most of the buildings are orderly and stately Georgian structures with grassy lawns that allow passers by to stand back and admire the full beauty of the architecture.
You can visit some of the buildings like the Old State House and Woodburn, the governor’s mansion. Both are free of admission but the latter requires 24 hour notice to plan a tour as the governor still lives inside. I wouldn’t mind spending a few days on a retreat here learning about history, but I wouldn’t live here even if I retired. It’s just too creepily quiet for me.
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