Delaware Trivia & Tidbits - Page 17

Looking for Delaware trivia? Try our list Delaware little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

The annual Delmarva Chicken Festival, held in a different community near Wilmington each year, features what may be the world’s largest frying pan. It is 10 feet in diameter and holds 800 chicken quarters.

first appeared: 1/21/2001

Twelve concrete observation towers were constructed along the Delaware coast during World War II when it was feared German U-boats might attack coastal towns.

first appeared: 1/14/2001

In 1785, Oliver Evans of Newport (pop. 1,240) invented the automatic flour milling machinery that revolutionized that industry. He also invented the high-pressure steam engine.

first appeared: 1/7/2001

Odessa (pop. 287) possesses one of the finest collections of late 18th- and early 19th-century architecture in the Northeast. The center of town is on the National Register of Historic Places and the entire town is zoned historic.

first appeared: 12/31/2000

Henry Hudson, an Englishman in the service of the Dutch East India Co., sailed up the Delaware River in 1609. The area was contested by the Dutch and the English, but the Swedes were the first Europeans to stay in Delaware, settling in 1638.

first appeared: 12/24/2000

Delaware shares a perfectly semicircular border with Pennsylvania. The border defining northern Delaware was drawn as part of the original colonial land grants given to William Penn (1644-1718) from King Charles II and the Duke of York.

first appeared: 12/17/2000

Horseshoe crabs—which may be viewed in large numbers on Delaware shores in May—can go a year without eating and have remained basically the same since the days of the dinosaur.

first appeared: 12/10/2000

John Dickinson (1732-1808) was called the Penman of the Revolution for his writings on independence—most notably, Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer. Although he was born in Maryland, his boyhood home is preserved in Dover (pop. 31,200).

first appeared: 12/3/2000

Today, about 500 descendants of the original Nanticoke Indians reside in Delaware.

first appeared: 11/26/2000

Delaware originally was part of the Pennsylvania colony before launching on its own. It was the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution on Dec. 7, 1787.

first appeared: 11/19/2000

The famous Dupont family is from Delaware, where their economic success story began with the production of gunpowder near Wilmington in 1802.

first appeared: 11/12/2000

Barratt’s Chapel, built in 1780 in Frederica (pop. 761), is the oldest Methodist church in the country. Although the church has undergone several renovations, it’s said to look on the outside much as it did when it was built.

first appeared: 11/5/2000

The town of Delmar (pop. 1,038) is so named because it’s located on the border of Delaware and Maryland. The town, founded in 1859, also straddles the Mason-Dixon line.

first appeared: 10/22/2000

In 1638, Swedish pioneers in Delaware were the first people to build log cabins in North America—a building method requiring little more than a sharp ax.

first appeared: 10/8/2000

Delaware was named after Lord De la Warr, one of the first governors of Virginia, by Capt. Samuel Argall of the Virginia Colony who visited the area in 1610. The first non-native settlement was founded in 1631.

first appeared: 9/24/2000

Delaware has only three counties —the fewest of any state. The smallest state, Rhode Island, has five counties.

first appeared: 9/10/2000

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