Hey everybody! I know I missed a post last month, but it was for a good reason! I was moving on the 21st of March and so I figured it would be better to move this post to the 7th of April. I have some good stuff coming for the 21st of April and the 7th of May. Thankfully I have a large enough collection of photos so I don’t have to violate the stay at home order.
Rockford Park has everything you could possibly need in a park. It has baseball fields, tennis courts, open green space to play in, hiking trails, and even a dog park. It is also home to the Rockford Tower, a 75-foot-tall water tower with an observation deck on the top. The best features, however, are the boulders and small cliffs that lead you down to the Brandywine River.
This park is one of the oldest parks in the city of Wilmington. In 1889, William Poole Bancroft donated 59 acres of land to form the park and he convinced the du Pont family to donate another 9 acres. In 1901, the Rockford Tower was constructed to serve as a water tower and observation deck to look out over Wilmington and the Brandywine River.
From the parking lot of the Tower down to the banks of the Brandywine, is a 100-foot change in elevation. It flattens out for a bit around 15 feet off the river, but then it drops sharply one more time to get you down to the bottom. While you don’t have to scale the boulders and small cliffs to access the Brandywine River, I certainly recommend it, solely because of how much more fun it is. If you park at the top by the tower you can climb over the foot high stone wall and from there you go down the boulders. There is no set path down, just climb! The other way down is a path that connects to the intersection of Rising Sun Lane and Main Street.
Do not wear normal sneakers or tennis shoes and especially do not wear flip flops or other open toe shoes. The rocks and leaves here can be slippery and sharp. Boots are really the only type of shoe that you should be wearing here. This is a good place to practice social distancing, so get out and go explore!