Fort Delaware

Rick F. · 08-29-2009, 09:11 AM

"A man, a plan, a canal. Panama."

I expect that many of you are familiar with this palindrome (a phrase that reads the same, forward or backward). After much experimentation, I discovered that substituting "Chesapeake & Delaware" for "Panama" no longer works as a palindrome. I'll keep trying, since it would make a great title for this ride report… But for now, we'll use "Fort Delaware."

I first learned of Fort Delaware when looking through Day Trips in Delmarva (second edition) by Alan Fisher. It's located in the middle of the Delaware River and was originally built to guard Wilmington and Philadelphia against possible attack during the War of 1812. The first primitive earthworks were replaced with a more substantial fort in 1819, which soon began to collapse into the soft soil. As a result, it was burned—and, for good measure, the entire island was swept bare by a tidal wave in 1846. The third and (so far) final attempt was finished just in time for the Civil War, and it still stands, an impressive pentagon of thick granite.

My intrepid wife Nancy joined me for this August 8th trip in the faithful BMW Z4 3.0i, and we first headed for Delaware City, DE, to take the ferry to Fort Delaware. Approaching the island, we could easily see the fort in the distance.

The ferry deposits you onto a floating dock for a short walk to the "jitney" for the ride to the Fort.

The exterior of Fort Delaware is quite dramatic, with imposing walls, hundreds of gun ports, a moat(!), and a drawbridge.

Inside, the condition of the fort varied from excellent (officers' quarters) to off-limits dangerous.

Dozens of volunteer "interpreters" were on hand to discuss life and times at Fort Delaware in 1862. And believe me, as they spoke with us, they were in 1862 and never once wavered from their roles. Here, the Ladies Auxiliary collects donations in support of the Union troops and a small contingent of such troops demonstrates musket-loading.

Inside one of several officers' kitchens, this young lady demonstrated one of the Fort's newest innovations: running water from a pump…

…while these men discussed the latest supply problems.

Visitors can take a guided tour or explore on their own, as we did. Most of the areas open for exploration are nicely rennovated.

There are also some dark, damp passages for the more adventurous. We did not encounter any ghosts, giant spiders, or other potential attractions. (However, Fort Delaware is famous for its ghosts and offers evening candlelight tours.)

The upper ramparts of the fort also offered great views.

Ironically, the fort originally held an incredible array of cannonry but was never fired upon in anger. The gun emplacements were everywhere…

…and a number of the original guns remained in place.

Here's one last look from inside the fort before we continued on with the tour. More information about Fort Delaware is available at Visit the Fort

Back in Delaware City, we had a great lunch at the original Crabby Dick's restaurant before exploring the town a bit. Here's the sole remaining lock for the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. It's no longer used, as the canal has been widened and deepened many times since it was originally built in the early 1800s. It connects the Chesapeake Bay with the Delaware River, just north of the Delaware Bay.

Delaware City has numerous historic homes and buildings, including this hotel…

…the former Delaware City National Bank, from 1849…

…and the colorful "Edwin Reybold House," from about 1900.

A fascinating (and slightly exhausting) architectural catalog of the notable houses in Delaware City is available at Delaware City architecture

The C & D Canal itself is one of the relatively few canals still in very active use. Freighters and all manner of other ships and boats run through it almost constantly. During our tour, however, it was pretty quiet except for a few speedboats. The Route 1 bridge is shown here in the background, with the Route 13 bridge at Saint Georges farther in the back..

If you look for the road pictured above using Google Maps, MapSource, or other tools, well, you won't find it. Day Trips in Delmarva earned my admiration immediately by describing (and charting) an entire series of dirt roads lining both sides of the canal. We reached this one, that runs immediately alongside the southern edge of the canal, by following South Main Street and then South Canal Street to its end, just off of Route 13. (Getting off of these dirt roads is another story…)

How often have you seen a drawbridge for trains?? It wasn't entirely clear that this one is still in use—but it was fun to imagine what it would look like if an unsuspecting train came barreling along… (Where's Steven Spielberg or Peter Jackson when you need them?)

The Z4 did just fine on the canal road but, after traversing 5 miles or so, it was time to get back to civilization. We had occasionally gone by steep dirt roads that headed up the embankment (which was, itself, created by past dredging and deepening of the canal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers). But where we expected to find such roads near Summit, there weren't any! (Did I mention that the Zumo still wasn't working properly and, in any case, didn't show these embankment roads?)

After continuing on, we finally found a road branching sharply off to the left, which we followed and then found another branching abruptly to the right. We kept taking uphill paths, some of them a bit rustic, and eventually found our way to the Old Summit Bridge Road and civilization (such as it was). The author of the Delmarva tour book, incidentally, notes that he's often seen AWD Jeeps and such completely bogged on some of these roads, so be careful if you go exploring here. For the record, all of the ones we were on were in fine shape and were no problem even with the Z4's limited ground clearance.

We bypassed the recommended Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Museum, since it's not open on Saturdays, and soon arrived in Chesapeake City, Maryland. Chesapeake City sits near the western end of the C & D Canal and is well worth a longer visit than we had time for.

After a final picture, looking down on Chesapeake City and the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, it was time to return home and the obligations of the real (i.e., non-tourist) world. My first foray into Delaware touring, however, had been great fun—and I'm planning to return soon for more!

The Z4 continues to be perfect for such trips and has proven to be a blast to drive on just about any kind of road. On smooth, winding roads, pushing the Sport button firms up the cornering even further and produces a beautifully tactile steering response. And the Z4 continues to elicit numerous compliments from passers-by. And it even gets over 30 mpg to and from the scenic areas, despite the rapid pace. A great sports car, indeed.

Rick F.

hammerhead · 08-29-2009, 12:25 PM

I really enjoyed that.. and so well done. Thanks Rick.

Rick F. · 08-29-2009, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hammerhead

I really enjoyed that.. and so well done. Thanks Rick.

hammerhead,

Great, glad you enjoyed the trip report. Thanks for the feedback.

Rick F.

M_Six · 08-29-2009, 11:45 PM

Another great post, Rick. Last pic isn't showing, though. Looks like the URL got cut off.

There's a village called Round Lake about 30 minutes north of Albany, NY that is filled with houses like the Edwin Reybold house. I love that style.

Rick F. · 08-30-2009, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M_Six

Another great post, Rick. Last pic isn't showing, though. Looks like the URL got cut off.

There's a village called Round Lake about 30 minutes north of Albany, NY that is filled with houses like the Edwin Reybold house. I love that style.

Mark,

Right you are! As I was writing up the report, I realized that my prior pictures of Chesapeake City weren't up to the standard befitting ZPOST. I ended up back in Delaware today and swung by C. City to take one properly. I've added it to the original post, but here it is again for good measure:

Hope it was worth the wait!

Rick F.

pbdm4k · 08-31-2009, 04:20 PM

That was lovely!
Makes me want to take a drive down there, but I'm rather far.

Hawkeye · 08-31-2009, 04:34 PM

Awesome visual tour once again. Keep up the good work and travel for all of us that don't have the time to!

Matty C · 09-01-2009, 04:18 AM

Rick,
Another nice post. When are you taking the Z and heading to Williamsburg VA? Photos are of a very good quality. What camera are you using?

Rick F. · 09-01-2009, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbdm4k

That was lovely!
Makes me want to take a drive down there, but I'm rather far.

pbdm4k,

Thanks. The really hard part about visiting the States (or, for me, visiting Canada) is trying to decide which of the thousands of beautiful spots to go to. You could easily take a week's vacation, get to a particular area and explore it, but have to forgo so many other areas.

We need more vacation time!

Rick F.

Rick F. · 09-01-2009, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

Awesome visual tour once again. Keep up the good work and travel for all of us that don't have the time to!

Hawkeye,

Yes, planning these trips and then going on them every few weeks does take some time. For me, it's a welcome change from a very stressful job and allows me to focus on something else entirely. Very good for the mental health.

Rick F.

Rick F. · 09-01-2009, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matty C

Rick,
Another nice post. When are you taking the Z and heading to Williamsburg VA? Photos are of a very good quality. What camera are you using?

Matty,

Glad you enjoyed it. I'm using a Canon SX10IS "superzoom" digital camera, which I'm very happy with. It's not particularly expensive, has 10 megapixels, 20x zoom, excellent movie capability (with decent stereo sound), and all the manual controls. And an excellent image stabilization that has bailed me out on many shots. It won't fit into a pocket, but it's reasonably light and compact.

Just for fun, here's another example, taken at the Jefferson 500 at Summit Point, West Virginia. (The car is a Lotus 23, from the early 1960s.)

Take care,

Rick F.

BlackSapphireZ · 09-03-2009, 11:14 PM

again, excellent pictures, and commentary!

always enjoy reading your trip posts!

acvr4 · 09-04-2009, 07:32 AM

Nice -

Rick F. · 09-04-2009, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackSapphireZ

again, excellent pictures, and commentary!

always enjoy reading your trip posts!

BSZ,

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback.

By the way, my 2006 3.0i is black, and when I washed it the other day, I realized that it appears to be metallic black. At the risk of asking a dumb question, were Z4's available in both "regular" and metallic black?

Whichever I have, it's beautiful.

Rick F.

PS: And good luck with the Frederick County covered bridges. They would make great photographs with fall colors in the background (and a BSZ in the foreground!)

Rick F. · 09-04-2009, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acvr4

Nice -

acvr4,

Glad you enjoyed it!

Rick

BlackSapphireZ · 09-06-2009, 12:02 AM

yes regular BLACK and Metallic Black are available for most Bimmers

08-29-2009, 09:11 AM	#1
Rick F. Lieutenant Colonel 952 Rep 1,910 Posts Drives: 2013 BMW 335i cabriolet Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Catonsville, MD iTrader: (0)	Fort Delaware "A man, a plan, a canal. Panama." I expect that many of you are familiar with this palindrome (a phrase that reads the same, forward or backward). After much experimentation, I discovered that substituting "Chesapeake & Delaware" for "Panama" no longer works as a palindrome. I'll keep trying, since it would make a great title for this ride report… But for now, we'll use "Fort Delaware." I first learned of Fort Delaware when looking through Day Trips in Delmarva (second edition) by Alan Fisher. It's located in the middle of the Delaware River and was originally built to guard Wilmington and Philadelphia against possible attack during the War of 1812. The first primitive earthworks were replaced with a more substantial fort in 1819, which soon began to collapse into the soft soil. As a result, it was burned—and, for good measure, the entire island was swept bare by a tidal wave in 1846. The third and (so far) final attempt was finished just in time for the Civil War, and it still stands, an impressive pentagon of thick granite. My intrepid wife Nancy joined me for this August 8th trip in the faithful BMW Z4 3.0i, and we first headed for Delaware City, DE, to take the ferry to Fort Delaware. Approaching the island, we could easily see the fort in the distance. The ferry deposits you onto a floating dock for a short walk to the "jitney" for the ride to the Fort. The exterior of Fort Delaware is quite dramatic, with imposing walls, hundreds of gun ports, a moat(!), and a drawbridge. Inside, the condition of the fort varied from excellent (officers' quarters) to off-limits dangerous. Dozens of volunteer "interpreters" were on hand to discuss life and times at Fort Delaware in 1862. And believe me, as they spoke with us, they were in 1862 and never once wavered from their roles. Here, the Ladies Auxiliary collects donations in support of the Union troops and a small contingent of such troops demonstrates musket-loading. Inside one of several officers' kitchens, this young lady demonstrated one of the Fort's newest innovations: running water from a pump… …while these men discussed the latest supply problems. Visitors can take a guided tour or explore on their own, as we did. Most of the areas open for exploration are nicely rennovated. There are also some dark, damp passages for the more adventurous. We did not encounter any ghosts, giant spiders, or other potential attractions. (However, Fort Delaware is famous for its ghosts and offers evening candlelight tours.) The upper ramparts of the fort also offered great views. Ironically, the fort originally held an incredible array of cannonry but was never fired upon in anger. The gun emplacements were everywhere… …and a number of the original guns remained in place. Here's one last look from inside the fort before we continued on with the tour. More information about Fort Delaware is available at Visit the Fort Back in Delaware City, we had a great lunch at the original Crabby Dick's restaurant before exploring the town a bit. Here's the sole remaining lock for the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. It's no longer used, as the canal has been widened and deepened many times since it was originally built in the early 1800s. It connects the Chesapeake Bay with the Delaware River, just north of the Delaware Bay. Delaware City has numerous historic homes and buildings, including this hotel… …the former Delaware City National Bank, from 1849… …and the colorful "Edwin Reybold House," from about 1900. A fascinating (and slightly exhausting) architectural catalog of the notable houses in Delaware City is available at Delaware City architecture The C & D Canal itself is one of the relatively few canals still in very active use. Freighters and all manner of other ships and boats run through it almost constantly. During our tour, however, it was pretty quiet except for a few speedboats. The Route 1 bridge is shown here in the background, with the Route 13 bridge at Saint Georges farther in the back.. If you look for the road pictured above using Google Maps, MapSource, or other tools, well, you won't find it. Day Trips in Delmarva earned my admiration immediately by describing (and charting) an entire series of dirt roads lining both sides of the canal. We reached this one, that runs immediately alongside the southern edge of the canal, by following South Main Street and then South Canal Street to its end, just off of Route 13. (Getting off of these dirt roads is another story…) How often have you seen a drawbridge for trains?? It wasn't entirely clear that this one is still in use—but it was fun to imagine what it would look like if an unsuspecting train came barreling along… (Where's Steven Spielberg or Peter Jackson when you need them?) The Z4 did just fine on the canal road but, after traversing 5 miles or so, it was time to get back to civilization. We had occasionally gone by steep dirt roads that headed up the embankment (which was, itself, created by past dredging and deepening of the canal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers). But where we expected to find such roads near Summit, there weren't any! (Did I mention that the Zumo still wasn't working properly and, in any case, didn't show these embankment roads?) After continuing on, we finally found a road branching sharply off to the left, which we followed and then found another branching abruptly to the right. We kept taking uphill paths, some of them a bit rustic, and eventually found our way to the Old Summit Bridge Road and civilization (such as it was). The author of the Delmarva tour book, incidentally, notes that he's often seen AWD Jeeps and such completely bogged on some of these roads, so be careful if you go exploring here. For the record, all of the ones we were on were in fine shape and were no problem even with the Z4's limited ground clearance. We bypassed the recommended Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Museum, since it's not open on Saturdays, and soon arrived in Chesapeake City, Maryland. Chesapeake City sits near the western end of the C & D Canal and is well worth a longer visit than we had time for. After a final picture, looking down on Chesapeake City and the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, it was time to return home and the obligations of the real (i.e., non-tourist) world. My first foray into Delaware touring, however, had been great fun—and I'm planning to return soon for more! The Z4 continues to be perfect for such trips and has proven to be a blast to drive on just about any kind of road. On smooth, winding roads, pushing the Sport button firms up the cornering even further and produces a beautifully tactile steering response. And the Z4 continues to elicit numerous compliments from passers-by. And it even gets over 30 mpg to and from the scenic areas, despite the rapid pace. A great sports car, indeed. Rick F. Last edited by Rick F.; 09-22-2015 at 12:57 PM.. Reason: Add missing photo
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08-29-2009, 12:25 PM	#2
hammerhead Private 2 Rep 67 Posts Drives: Z4MR Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Midwest iTrader: (0)	I really enjoyed that.. and so well done. Thanks Rick.
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08-29-2009, 11:45 PM	#4
M_Six Free Thinker 17048 Rep 7,456 Posts Drives: 2016 MB GLC300 4matic Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Foothills of Mt Level iTrader: (0)	Another great post, Rick. Last pic isn't showing, though. Looks like the URL got cut off. There's a village called Round Lake about 30 minutes north of Albany, NY that is filled with houses like the Edwin Reybold house. I love that style. __________________ Mark markj.pics "Life is uncertain, eat bacon now." -UncleWede
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08-31-2009, 04:20 PM	#6
pbdm4k Lieutenant Colonel 75 Rep 1,689 Posts Drives: 2010 335d Join Date: May 2007 Location: North of the Border iTrader: (3)	That was lovely! Makes me want to take a drive down there, but I'm rather far. __________________ 2010 BMW 335d "Ha! She wants the D." 2006 VW Jetta 2.5 Once upon a time... '03 VW GTI, '99 Audi A4 1.8TQ, '00 VW Jetta 1.85T, '09 BMW 335i xDrive, '04 BMW Z4 3.0i, '01 Audi TT 1.8T, '04 Volvo S80 2.5T
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08-31-2009, 04:34 PM	#7
Hawkeye Brigadier General 2070 Rep 4,365 Posts Drives: '07 Z4 Coupe, '21 X3, '16 GMC Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Iowa iTrader: (0) Garage List 2016 GMC Sierra SLT [10.00] 2008 Yamaha R6 [9.00]	Awesome visual tour once again. Keep up the good work and travel for all of us that don't have the time to! __________________ 2007 Z4 3.0si Coupe • 6 MT • Black Saphire Metallic • PP • SP 2016 GMC Sierra SLT Z71 Premium Plus 4x4 2017 Harley StreetGlide • Denim Black • V&H Tune 2021 BMW x30i • Phytonic Blue Metallic • Fully loaded
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09-01-2009, 04:18 AM	#8
Matty C First Lieutenant 20 Rep 324 Posts Drives: 2007 Z4 M Roadster, 2006 M3 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Bodensee iTrader: (0)	Rick, Another nice post. When are you taking the Z and heading to Williamsburg VA? Photos are of a very good quality. What camera are you using? __________________ 2007 Black Sapphire Z4 //M Roadster, Hamann Front End, Hamann Rear Diffuser, Hamann 19 Inch Anniversary Wheels, Eisenmann Race Exhaust, Group M Intake, RPI Ram Air, CDV Delete 2006 E46 M3, 2004 Jeep Rubicon, 93 Golf VR6
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09-03-2009, 11:14 PM	#12
BlackSapphireZ Major 99 Rep 1,191 Posts Drives: 22 GLE 53 Coupe Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Ladson, SC iTrader: (0)	again, excellent pictures, and commentary! always enjoy reading your trip posts! __________________ 2022 GLE 53 Coupe
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09-04-2009, 07:32 AM	#13
acvr4 Private First Class 3 Rep 198 Posts Drives: 3.0Z4,VR4,Vehicross.Touareg Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: CT iTrader: (1)	Nice -
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09-06-2009, 12:02 AM	#16
BlackSapphireZ Major 99 Rep 1,191 Posts Drives: 22 GLE 53 Coupe Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Ladson, SC iTrader: (0)	yes regular BLACK and Metallic Black are available for most Bimmers __________________ 2022 GLE 53 Coupe
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