Brandywine Park was the first city park established by the city of

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

. It is located on the banks of Brandywine Creek, between Augustine Road and North Market Street. The park was established in 1886, and was designed by Samuel Canby, the city's parks commissioner, in consultation with

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, Social criticism, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the U ...

. Although initially laid out as a bucolic park with winding paths and roadways, it has since expanded to include active recreation facilities. The park is approximately 178 acres and it spans both the north and south banks of the Brandywine. Much of the park has been preserved as a mix of wilderness and open space with walking trails and scenic views of the creek and surrounding woods. The open space section of the park includes two formal gardens, a rose garden and a

cherry blossom The cherry blossom, or sakura, is the flower of trees in ''Prunus'' subgenus '' Cerasus''. ''Sakura'' usually refers to flowers of ornamental cherry trees, such as cultivars of ''Prunus serrulata'', not trees grown for their fruit (although ...

garden. The

Brandywine Zoo Brandywine Zoo is a small zoo that opened in 1905 in Brandywine Park in Wilmington, Delaware, United States. It is located on the banks of the Brandywine River. The zoo is managed by the Delaware Division of Parks and Recreation and supporte ...

was created in 1905 and now occupies 4.75 acres of the park. Brandywine Park also includes active recreational facilities including playgrounds, athletic fields, and Abessinio Stadium. The park was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1976. It is a unit of Delaware's

Wilmington State Parks Wilmington State Parks is a public recreation area located in Wilmington, Delaware, United States. Open year-round, the park covers of land mostly situated along the Brandywine Creek. The state park is made up of a group of smaller parks that ...

References

National Register of Historic Places in Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington, Delaware Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Delaware {{Delaware-NRHP-stub

See also

References