New designation edges Delaware closer to its first national park

Delaware, which calls itself the First State, on Monday became the last state to have sites designated as federal parkland.

In an Oval Office ceremony, President Obama signed a proclamation to form the First State National Monument out of three sites, two in Delaware and a third along the Brandywine Creek, reaching into Pennsylvania.

The sites are Dover Green, the New Castle Courthouse complex, and the Woodlawn property in the Brandywine Valley.

The designation is meant to honor Delaware as the first state to ratify the Constitution as well as to recognize the colonial Dutch, English, Finnish, and Swedish settlements there, and is a step toward creating Delaware's first national park.

On Tuesday, the proclamation will be celebrated at an event involving Vice President Biden, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D., Del.) at the Sheriff's House in New Castle.

On Monday, Carper, who stood beside Obama at the Oval Office signing, said the designation of "Delaware's first-ever presence within the national park system . . . signals just how close we are to having a full-fledged national park in Delaware.

"I like to say we aren't quite in the end zone, but we're on about the five-yard line."

With the monument designation, Carper said, the national park system gains "an important story about the crucial role the First State played in the founding of our country."

The White House action "will protect this property and ensure Americans can enjoy it for generations to come," said U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan (R., Pa.), who attended the signing.

Of the three sites in the Monument, the Woodlawn property consists of 880 acres in Delaware and 220 acres in Delaware County, land once owned by William Penn and preserved by the Woodlawn trustees.

In 2012, the Conservation Fund agreed to purchase the land from Woodlawn with $20 million from Mount Cuba Center Inc., a conservation and horticultural nonprofit in Delaware.

The two other sites are publicly owned.

Dover Green is in the state capital and, while the City of Dover will continue to own and manage it, the National Park Service has an easement on the property.

The New Castle Courthouse complex consists of the courthouse itself, the Sheriff's House, and New Castle Green.

The State of Delaware donated the Sheriff's House to the National Park Service, which has easements on the Courthouse and the Green, though they will continue to be owned and managed by the state.

The First State National Monument was one of five new national monuments created Monday by Obama.

By creating a national monument with his executive power through the Antiquities Act of 1906, the president averted the longer congressional process of creating a national historical park, such as those at Independence Hall and Valley Forge.

The four other national monuments are the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument in Maryland; the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument, Ohio; the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, New Mexico; and the San Juan Islands National Monument, Washington state.