The First State
Culture
History, heritage, and the arts of the First State.
The First State: How Delaware Won the Race to Ratify
On December 7, 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution. The nickname it earned that day still defines the place.
The Grand Opera House: Wilmington's Restored Jewel
A nineteenth-century theater saved from the wrecking ball has become the anchor of the city's performing-arts life.
New Castle's Cobblestones: A Colonial Town Frozen in Time
A few miles from Wilmington's office towers sits a village that history nearly forgot to modernize — and is all the more precious for it.
Parades and Pageantry: Delaware's Civic Calendar
From holiday parades to founders' celebrations, the state's small towns keep alive a tradition of public spectacle that binds communities together.
Public Art and the Making of a Mural District
Large-scale murals have transformed a stretch of Wilmington's walls into an open-air gallery, and residents into an audience.
Inside the Delaware Art Museum's Collection
From Pre-Raphaelite paintings to American illustration, Wilmington's flagship art museum holds a collection with a few genuine surprises.
Sculpture and the Classical Ideal at the Museum
A traveling exhibition of classical sculpture invites a look at why the marble ideals of antiquity still hold a grip on the imagination.
Winterthur and the American Country House
A former du Pont estate turned museum holds one of the world's great collections of American decorative arts, set amid hundreds of acres of gardens.
The Old State House and Dover's Green
At the heart of the capital sits a colonial statehouse and a public green that have witnessed Delaware's history since before there was a United States.
The Photography Show Everyone's Talking About
A contemporary exhibition of portrait photography has drawn unusual crowds and unusually pointed debate to a Wilmington gallery.
Contemporary Art Finds a Home in Wilmington
A cluster of galleries and studios has given the city a livelier contemporary art scene than its size would suggest.
Swedish, Dutch, English: The Layered Founding of Delaware
Before it was the First State, the land along the Delaware River passed through three colonial powers, and traces of each remain.
Main Street Revival: Preserving Delaware's Small Downtowns
After decades of decline, a number of the state's historic downtowns are betting that character and preservation can bring the crowds back.
A Museum Rethinks How It Tells Delaware's Story
A major reinstallation at a state history museum wrestles with whose stories get told, and how a small state narrates its own past.
Barns, Mills, and the Rural Heritage of Kent County
Away from the coast and the corporate towers, central Delaware preserves an agricultural past in its barns, gristmills, and country roads.
Antiquing the Backroads of Southern Delaware
Between the beaches and the farm fields, a scattering of antique shops and vintage stores has turned browsing the past into a pastime.
Fort Delaware and the Ghosts of the Civil War
On an island in the Delaware River sits a granite fortress that served as a Union prison — and, some insist, never quite let its dead leave.
The Historic House That Nearly Fell Down
One of the oldest homes in the county was days from demolition before a determined group of neighbors intervened. Its rescue offers a lesson.