Wilmington Delaware

The fountains at Nemours Estate

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Enjoying the artwork at Delaware Art Museum

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Aerial view of Fort Delaware

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The ivy-covered du Pont Family ancestral home at Hagley Museum

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The New Castle Court House in Old New Castle

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Fairy cottage at the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library

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Wilmington Riverfront on the Christina River

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The Grand Opera House lit up at night

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Spring

11 - 21 ºC

Summer

17 - 27 ºC

Fall

3 - 11 ºC

Winter

-5 - 5 ºC

January

-5 - 3 ºC

February

-4 - 4 ºC

March

0 - 9 ºC

April

6 - 16 ºC

May

11 - 21 ºC

June

16 - 26 ºC

July

19 - 29 ºC

August

18 - 27 ºC

September

14 - 24 ºC

October

8 - 17 ºC

November

2 - 11 ºC

December

-2 - 6 ºC

Major Airports:

Wilmington (ILG)

Philadelphia (PHL)

Baltimore-Washington (BWI)
States:

Delaware

This enterprising city has a long and rich history

Don’t let Wilmington’s small scale fool you. Packed into its 45 square kilometers is a city of big significance. Halfway between New York and Washington, D.C., where the Christina and Brandywine rivers meet, Wilmington arose from the first Swedish settlement in the USA to become the “Corporate Capital of the World.” More than half of all Fortune 500 companies operate here. Once the last stop on the Underground Railroad, it was also once the domain of the famous du Pont family. In modern-day Wilmington, nine historic districts thrive alongside major performance venues, world-class dining and 225 hectares of parkland.

Grand Estates and Splendid Gardens

Wilmington can thank the du Pont family – one of the richest and most venerable in the USA – for the historic estates, museums and gardens they built here. Stop first at the Hagley Museum & Library, original site of the E.I. du Pont Gunpowder Works and the family’s ancestral home. Visit the powder yard and tour the estate and garden. Be regaled at the Nemours Mansion & Gardens, a 77-room French chateau-style du Pont home complete with the largest formal French gardens in North America. At the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, the American antiques collection includes 85,000 pieces.

Explore Wilmington’s Swedish History

Families from around the world flock to Wilmington’s Old Swedes Church and Foundation to tour the 1698 house of worship (the oldest in the USA to operate as originally built) and to examine the site’s extensive genealogical records, which date back more than 400 years, for clues to their ancestry. Learn the history of the New Sweden Colony and walk through the Hendrickson House, a 1690 field stone farmhouse. Step aboard the Kalmar Nyckel, a full-scale replica of the ship that brought the first colonists to Wilmington. Wander through Historic New Castle, a 17th-century town brimming with antiques shops, galleries, museums and taverns.

Diverse Dining and Culture

Wilmington’s diverse culinary scene speaks to its Colonial history and Dutch roots, as well as to the influence of the Chesapeake Bay to its south. You’ll find raw bar restaurants and crab shacks along with restaurants with regional specialties such as scrapple (pork, buckwheat flour and spices) and cider doughnuts on the menu here. For entertainment, catch a performance at the 1871 Grand Opera House or the Delaware Theatre Company. Visit the Delaware Art Museum to see American artwork spanning the 19th to the 21st centuries. And feel free to shop till you drop in Wilmington – it’s all tax free.