Wilmington Buzz

A weekly look around Wilmington.

Issue 2 - Trout in White Clay Creek and the cupola that rounded off Delaware

Hey, neighbor. Issue 2 runs from today through next Tuesday, Nov 10. The weekend is stacked, from a Celtic weekend at the Ren Faire down in Townsend to craft shows on both sides of the state line. I also finally figured out why the top of Delaware is round.

What's in this one

1

Hot picks · Celtic Weekend at the Ren Faire in Townsend, plus two more Saturday picks on both sides of the state line.

2

Field guide · How to do White Clay Creek State Park in November, with fresh trout and a Friday hawk count.

3

The scrap · Kirkwood Highway Satan has a sign, and somebody's dad can't taste test alone.

4

What's building · County Council votes to move $2.6 million out of the farmland preservation fund, and Elkton's Southfields comes up twice this week.

5

Makers · The Goldey-Beacom craft fair in Pike Creek and the Singerly Fire Company holiday craft show in Elkton.

6

Deep cut · How a cupola in New Castle became the center of Delaware's curved border.

7

Season · Last weeks at Mt. Cuba Center and weekend ice cream at Woodside Farm.

Hot picks

This weekend's best bets around here.

Saturday's the big one. I'd do the Ren Faire's Celtic weekend in Townsend, or browse the antiques show on the Riverfront where the cheapest thing on the floor is the parking. Up in Rising Sun there's a free wine-and-shopping day with two bands.

Graphic: Delaware Renaissance Faire

Townsend · Sat Nov 7 and Sun Nov 8 · 10am-5pm · $25 adults, $10 ages 5-15, under 5 free

Celtic Weekend at the Delaware Renaissance Faire

Delafaire's second weekend is the Celtic one, out at Firebase Lloyd off Route 9 (park at 375 Saw Mill Branch Rd). There are five stages and an artisan market, plus archery and axe-throwing if you need to work something out. Parking's free but it's a hay field, so if it rains Friday, wear boots. Tickets are date-specific, and veterans, active duty and 65+ get in for $20. Bring cash too, since some vendors don't take cards. Delaware Renaissance Faire

The Annual Delaware Antiques Show banner over a dimly lit room of antique furniture

Graphic: Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library

Wilmington Riverfront · Fri Nov 6 and Sat Nov 7, 11am-6pm · Sun Nov 8, 11am-5pm · $29, $15 students, under 12 free

The Delaware Antiques Show at the Chase Center

More than 60 dealers set up at the Chase Center on the Riverfront (815 Justison St) for Winterthur's yearly antiques show. One ticket is good all three days and covers the lectures, and it gets you into Winterthur itself while the show's on. Saturday at 1pm a photographer and an interior designer talk about how photos shaped the way we remember old rooms. Parking is free and there's plenty of it, which on the Riverfront feels like the real antique. Winterthur

Dove Valley Winery's Rockin'-n-Shoppin' flyer for Saturday, Nov 7

Graphic: Dove Valley Winery

Rising Sun, MD · Sat Nov 7 · 11am-5pm · free admission, rain or shine

Rockin'-n-Shoppin' at Dove Valley Winery

Dove Valley Winery at 645 Harrington Rd is doing a free shopping day with local artisan vendors and food trucks. Besides the wine, there's beer from Elk River Brewing and Bayheads. Acoustics with an Edge plays 11 to 2 and Smokin' Guns takes 2 to 5. They'll have fire pits going, which is my whole personality in November. Leave the cooler and outside food at home, they don't allow it. Dove Valley Winery

Field guide

One useful guide to living around here.

A mowed path leading from a gravel lot into a wide meadow edged with trees at White Clay Creek State Park

The Bryan's Field trailhead. Photo: Ken Cox, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

White Clay Creek State Park, Newark. Park office 750 Thompson Station Rd; Carpenter Recreation Area off Route 896 (880 New London Rd)

White Clay Creek State Park in November - fresh trout and a Friday hawk count

Newark kids grow up in White Clay Creek and the rest of us find it by accident. It's over 3,600 acres along the creek north of Newark with more than 37 miles of trail. The whole watershed even has a federal Wild and Scenic designation.

November's a good month for it. DNREC stocked about 1,000 pounds of rainbow trout in late October, and Friday afternoon the park runs a Hawk Count that costs nothing beyond the $5 car fee (Delaware plates, through Nov 30).

The full guide has where to park and which trail to skip on weekdays. One heads up for Saturday: the Wilmington Trail Club's calendar lists a hunt closure Sat Nov 7, so check before you head out.

Read the field guide

The scrap

The best stuff you missed in the area's social media world.

Kirkwood Highway has a philosopher now, and he's got a sign. Somebody also dug up the road's 1934 debut, and a Newark wrap shop owner's dad called in backup.

A man in a pink devil mask on a roadside holding a hand-lettered sign that says SUCH A RUSH TO DO NOTHING AND GO NOWHERE

Kirkwood Highway · Reddit

"Saw Kirkwood Highway Satan the other day"

Kirkwood Highway Satan's sign is the most accurate traffic report New Castle County has ever gotten. Reddit

via u/Tonsilith_Salsa

Kirkwood Highway · X

"A stretch of road that would later be known as Kirkwood Highway. 1934."

A history account dug up Kirkwood Highway from 1934, back before anybody was in a rush. X

via @LtGenScott

A dad holding a wrap up to the camera while his friend eats in the background

Newark · TikTok

"Would it be my Dad if he didn't invite his friend over to also taste test my wrap 😭"

Every family has the dad who can't try anything new without calling his buddy over first. TikTok

via @mayacent

What's building

What's going up, getting paused, or getting fought over.

County Council voted to move $2.6 million out of the farmland preservation fund to cover an IRS payment and a couple of other bills. Down in Elkton, the Southfields sports complex shows up on two agendas this week.

A black-and-white photo of the Louis L. Redding City/County Building, a tall modern office block in Wilmington

The Louis L. Redding City/County Building in Wilmington. Photo: John Newell, Historic American Buildings Survey (public domain)

New Castle County · ordinance passed 9-3 on Oct 27

Council moves $2.6 million out of the farmland preservation fund

New Castle County Council voted 9-3 on Oct 27 to take $2.6 million from the money set aside to preserve farmland. About $1.6 million pays an IRS rebate tied to bonds the county sold in 2021, and the other $1 million gets split between tree work and employee health care. The ordinance is posted with the Oct 27 council meeting files if you want to read it yourself. Oct 27 council files

A site plan rendering of the Southfields regional sports complex with ball fields

A site plan for the Southfields regional sports complex. Rendering: Southfields of Elkton

Elkton, MD · Wed Nov 4, 6pm · Mon Nov 9, 6pm

Southfields comes up twice at Elkton town hall

The town commissioners take up a resolution Wednesday on the facilities fee for the Sideline Properties sports park, the regional sports complex planned at Southfields. Monday, the planning commission hears a request to put a hotel on Tract 9 of Southfields, along Route 213 (Augustine Herman Hwy), plus a concept site plan for the same tract. The plans call for ball fields and indoor pickleball courts, and the developer has said it's on track for fall 2027. Both meetings are open to the public, in person or on Zoom, and the call-in info is on the agendas. Elkton agenda

Makers

Local makers nights and market tables worth hitting.

Two craft shows, one on each side of the state line. Goldey-Beacom fills up Saturday in Pike Creek, and the Singerly firehouse in Elkton takes Sunday, fudge included.

An aerial view of brick campus buildings among trees at Goldey-Beacom College

Goldey-Beacom College's campus off Limestone Road. Photo: Goldey-Beacom College

Pike Creek (Goldey-Beacom College) · Sat Nov 7 · 9am-3pm

Goldey-Beacom College Fall Craft Fair

The Goldey-Beacom alumni association runs a craft fair on campus at 4701 Limestone Rd, and the money goes to student scholarships. Vendor spots sold out back in July, so it should be packed. I'd go early and do my holiday shopping before the Limestone Road traffic wakes up. Check the listing before you go. Goldey-Beacom

Event card for the Holiday Craft Show at Singerly Fire Company on Sunday, Nov 8

Graphic: Susan W. Green

Elkton, MD · Sun Nov 8 · opens 9am · free, donations welcome

Holiday Craft Show at Singerly Fire Company

The Singerly firehouse at 300 Newark Ave fills up with local crafters Sunday: woodwork, jewelry, crochet, tumblers, fudge, jams and honey. The Ladies Auxiliary is running the food. Doors open at 9am, it's free to get in, and they're collecting for the Fill the Boot drive at the door, so bring a few bucks for the boot. Event listing

Deep cut

One local history leftover worth knowing.

Black and white 1936 close-up of the arched, eight-sided wooden cupola on the New Castle Court House

The court house cupola in 1936. Photo: W. S. Stewart, Historic American Buildings Survey, public domain

New Castle Court House Museum, 211 Delaware St, New Castle

The cupola that rounded off Delaware - the New Castle Court House and the Twelve-Mile Circle

Look at a map and the top of Delaware is a near-perfect arc. The line with Maryland runs ruler straight, and then the top edge bends like somebody traced a dinner plate.

Somebody basically did. The arc is a circle with a 12-mile radius, and since around 1750 its center point has been the cupola on top of the New Castle Court House. That same circle is why Delaware owns the river almost all the way to the New Jersey shore, and why New Jersey lost a Supreme Court fight over a gas pier in 2008.

The full piece follows the center point from a waterfront dike up to the cupola, and it tells you how to get inside the building for free this week.

Read the deep cut

Season

What's in the air right now. Farm stands, orchards, peak harvest.

Mt. Cuba's open through Nov 22, then it shuts for winter, so go see the woods before they go bare. Woodside Farm Creamery is weekends-only now, and yes, ice cream in a jacket counts.

Orange butterfly weed flowers with a bumblebee at Mt. Cuba Center

Mt. Cuba Center in Hockessin. Photo: Esther Westerveld, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Hockessin · Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm, through Nov 22 · $20 adults, $10 ages 6-17, 5 and under free

Last weeks at Mt. Cuba Center

Mt. Cuba at 3120 Barley Mill Rd is open Wednesday to Sunday through Nov 22, then it closes for the season and won't reopen until April. There are almost 3 miles of trails, and November's when you can actually see the shape of the woods. If you want someone to point things out, the $5 Welcome Walks go at 11 and 2. Mt. Cuba Center

A photo collage of the Woodside Farm Creamery stand, picnic tables and Jersey cows

Photo: Woodside Farm Creamery

Hockessin area (Newark address) · Saturdays and Sundays · ice cream noon-7pm

Weekend ice cream at Woodside Farm Creamery

Woodside Farm at 378 North Star Rd has been a family farm since 1796, and the creamery's been scooping since 1998 with milk from their own Jersey cows. Now that Halloween's done, it's weekends only, right up until Dec 23. It's cold out, I know, but the line is way shorter. Woodside Farm Creamery

See you on the Riverfront.

Wilmington Buzz · written from around here · Tuesday mornings

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