A band of the Nanticoke tribe of American Indians today resides in Sussex County and is headquartered in Millsboro, Sussex County, Delaware. In the Native American community, the state has a Native American group, called in their own language Lenape, which was influential in the colonial period of the United States and is today headquartered in Cheswold, Kent County, Delaware. People of Hispanic or Latino origin, of any race, made up 8.2% of the population. Delaware’s history as a border state has led it to exhibit characteristics of both the Northern and the Southern regions of the United States.
According to a 2020 study by Kiplinger, Delaware had the 17th most millionaires per capita in the United States; altogether, there were 25,937 such individuals. At the 2014 Pew Research survey, 23% of the population were irreligious; the 2020 Public Religion Research Institute’s survey determined 31% of the population were irreligious. A 2012 survey of religious attitudes in the United States found that 34% of Delaware residents considered themselves “moderately religious”, 33% “very religious”, and 33% as “non-religious”. Reflecting new immigrant populations, an Islamic mosque has been built in the Ogletown area, and a Hindu temple in Hockessin. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington and the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware oversee the parishes within their denominations.
Beaches
Until 2003, Delaware was among the several states enforcing blue laws and banned the sale of liquor on Sunday. Although “USA (Delaware)” ranked as the world’s most opaque jurisdiction on the Tax Justice Network’s 2009 Financial Secrecy Index, the same group’s 2011 Index ranks the U.S. fifth and does not specify Delaware. Franchise taxes on Delaware corporations supply about a fifth of the state’s revenue. More than half of all U.S. publicly traded companies, and 2021 u s small business tax checklist 63% of the Fortune 500, are incorporated in Delaware. In late 2015, DuPont announced that 1,700 employees, nearly a third of its footprint in Delaware, would be laid off in early 2016. Delaware’s agricultural output consists of poultry, nursery stock, soybeans, dairy products and corn.
Delaware and the Civil War
Delaware is centrally situated in the Northeast megalopolis region of cities along I-95. This put an end to an eight-month period during which Delaware had no scheduled air service, one of several since 1991. As of 2023update, Delaware is served exclusively by Avelo Airlines out of Wilmington Airport, launching five routes to Florida on February 1. The paratransit system, consisting of a statewide door-to-door bus service for the elderly and disabled, has been described by a Delaware state report as “the most generous paratransit system in the United States”. The Delmarva Central Railroad connects with the Maryland and Delaware Railroad, which serves local customers in Sussex County.
Other general aviation airports in Delaware include Summit Airport near Middletown, Delaware Airpark near Cheswold, and Delaware Coastal Airport near Georgetown. Atlantic City International Airport (ACY), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) are also within a 100-mile (160 km) radius of New Castle County. Therefore, Delaware commercial airline passengers most frequently use Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) for domestic and international transit.
Festivals
Delaware occupies the northeastern portion of the Delmarva Peninsula, and some islands and territory within the Delaware River. The National Marine Fisheries Service is considering designating sixteen rivers as endangered habitat for the Atlantic sturgeon which would require more attention to be given to uses of the rivers that affect the fish. As the past few years have seen a rise in catastrophic floods, most residents of the river basin feel that something must be done. Residents in the middle part of the Delaware basin experience flooding, including three major floods in the three years (2004–2006) that have severely damaged their homes and land. The river gauge at Riegelsville, Pennsylvania recorded an all-time record crest of 38.85 feet (11.84 m) on August 19, 1955.
American Revolution
Delaware’s Industrial Revolution and Economic Growth Delaware and the American Revolution Delaware’s Native American History History from countries and communities across the globe, including the world’s major wars.
Counties
The wine appellation includes 96,000 acres (38,850 ha) surrounding the Delaware River north of Philadelphia and Trenton, New Jersey. Department of the Treasury authorized the creation of a wine region or “American Viticultural Area” called the Central Delaware Valley AVA located discounted payback calculator in southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area came about as a result of the failure of a controversial plan to build a dam on the Delaware River at Tocks Island, just north of the Delaware Water Gap to control water levels for flood control and hydroelectric power generation. In the eighteenth century, cities like Philadelphia, Camden (then Cooper’s Ferry), Trenton, Wilmington and New Castle were established upon the Delaware and their continued commercial success into the present day has been dependent on access to the river for trade and power. The river flows down a broad Appalachian valley, passing Hawk’s Nest overlook on the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway.
- The West Branch of the Delaware River, also called the Mohawk Branch, spans approximately 90 miles (140 km) from the northern Catskill Mountains to its confluence with the Delaware River’s East Branch at Hancock, New York.
- Most of the free African-American families in Delaware before the Revolution had migrated from Maryland to find more affordable land.
- On the west, Delaware and Maryland are mostly separated by a line running from the midpoint of the Transpeninsular Line, going slightly west of due north up to its tangent point on the Twelve-Mile Circle.
- The paratransit system, consisting of a statewide door-to-door bus service for the elderly and disabled, has been described by a Delaware state report as “the most generous paratransit system in the United States”.
All Summer Long: There’s More In Store Than Beaches
It is also bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Delaware Bay, and Delaware River in the southeast. Located in Kent County, along the St. Jones River, in the east-central part of the state is Dover – the capital city of Delaware. Generally speaking, Delaware is flat, with one of the lowest average elevations in the country.
- Despite its small size (roughly 100 miles (160 km) from its northernmost to southernmost points), there is significant variation in mean temperature and amount of snowfall between Sussex County and New Castle County.
- The strategic Delaware River was the scene of several important campaigns during the American Revolutionary War.
- Wilmington’s Quaker population played a crucial role in the Underground Railroad, helping enslaved people escape to freedom.
- English Explorer Henry Hudson’s 1609 discovery of Delaware Bay led to European settlements in the area.
- Therefore, Delaware commercial airline passengers most frequently use Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) for domestic and international transit.
- Guatemalan people migrated to Sussex county to work in Delaware’s poultry industry.
Interstate 295 (I-295) is a bypass of Philadelphia which begins south of Wilmington. In 2009, DelDOT maintained 13,507 lane-miles, totaling 89 percent of the state’s public roadway system, the rest being under the supervision of individual municipalities. Funding for DelDOT projects is drawn, in part, from the Delaware Transportation Trust Fund, established in 1987 to help stabilize transportation funding; the availability of the Trust led to a gradual separation of DelDOT operations from other Delaware state operations. The transportation system in Delaware is under the governance and supervision of the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT).
Delaware’s Government
At the time, state law prohibited money raised from white taxpayers from being used to support the state’s schools for black children. In 2015, tourism in Delaware generated $3.1 billion, which makes up five percent of the state’s GDP. According to SeaGrant Delaware, the Delaware beaches generate $6.9 billion annually and over $711 million in tax revenue. Rehoboth Beach, together with the towns of Lewes, Dewey Beach, Bethany Beach, South Bethany, and Fenwick Island, comprise Delaware’s beach resorts. Delaware has several museums, wildlife refuges, parks, houses, lighthouses, and other historic places.
Biden’s family moved to Delaware during his childhood, and he later represented Delaware for 36 years in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009, before being 47th vice president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. above par definition Prominent Delawareans include the du Pont family of politicians and businesspersons, and the 46th president of the United States Joe Biden. Delaware has had a foreign sister state in Japan, named Miyagi Prefecture. Delaware is represented in rugby by the Delaware Black Foxes, a 2015 expansion club. The University of Delaware’s football team has a large following throughout the state, with the Delaware State University and Wesley College teams also enjoying a smaller degree of support.
The rest of the state comprises the northeastern corner of the Delmarva Peninsula, which Delaware shares with Maryland and Virginia (hence its name). The dominant factor in Delaware’s political shift has been the strong Democratic trend in heavily urbanized New Castle County, home to 55% of Delaware’s population. Most functions which are handled on a county-by-county basis in other states—such as court and law enforcement—have been centralized in Delaware, leading to a significant concentration of power in the Delaware state government. Each county elects its own legislative body (known in New Castle and Sussex counties as County Council, and in Kent County as Levy Court), which deal primarily in zoning and development issues.
Fort Delaware became a significant site during the war, holding Confederate prisoners, and nearly 12,000 Delawareans fought for the Union Army, while approximately 2,000 joined the Confederacy. When asked to join the Confederate cause, Delaware Governor William Burton said, “As the first state to join the Union, Delaware will be the last state to leave it.” Constitution, and Delaware was the first state to ratify it on December 7, 1787. The state contributed troops, including the Delaware Regiment and the “Blue Hen Chicks,” but saw only one Revolutionary War battle in 1777, at the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge. Delaware’s location along the Atlantic coast made it a strategic asset for trade and military operations during the war. The war ended with Dutch control, but the English seized the territory in 1664, incorporating it into the English colony of New York.
Unlike many states, Delaware’s educational system is centralized in a state Superintendent of Education, with local school boards retaining control over taxation and some curriculum decisions. Delaware was the origin of Belton v. Gebhart (1952), one of the four cases which were combined into Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court of the United States decision that led to the end of officially segregated public schools. Appalled by the condition of the black schools, du Pont donated four million dollars to construct 86 new school buildings.
Delaware is bordered by the state of Maryland in the west and south; by Pennsylvania in the north, and by New Jersey in the east. Its population, like its industry, is concentrated in the north, around Wilmington, where the major coastal highways and railways pass through from Pennsylvania and New Jersey on the north and east into Maryland on the south and west. Delaware is subdivided into three counties; from north to south they are New Castle, Kent and Sussex.

