On a nice Monday, mid-way between April Fools’ Day and Tax Day, we decided to take one of the drives from “National Geographic Guide to Scenic Highways and Byways: The 300 Best Drives in the U.S”.

If you want to know more about this book, just click on the picture of the book and you can read comments on Amazon, and buy if you so decide.

So we started down US 202 from our home in West Chester, PA and headed toward New Castle, Delaware. The quickest way to do this would be continue until you get to I-95 in Wilmington and exit onto DE 141.

Or you could take the more scenic route getting off 202 before reaching I-95 at the Augustine cut-off which is marked for DE 141. It is a longer ride but this was a pleasure trip and we were in no rush. The road winds around a bit and you do get to go by the Hagley Museum (the old Dupont gunpowder works on the Brandywine).

DE 141 gets you really close to New Castle but ends just before it gets to the historic section. Under normal circumstances you would just follow the sign and go straight at the intersection with 273 onto Washington St. That would hit Delaware route 9 ( DE 9 ) at 7th street and you could follow that north into the center of town (but turn off 9 before it leaves town). Making a right at Delaware Avenue will take you through the center of town.

Unfortunately the day were going to New Castle, there was considerable roadwork on the few blocks you need to follow Washington St. We were detoured several times (and the detours were not well marked), so I was totally confused.

But we asked directions of one of the roadworkers and and quickly made it to the center of town. (Thank you, anonymous worker.)

Now that I’m home and had a chance to look at a detailed map (Google maps for New Castle, Delaware 19720 ), it seems I could have just made a left on 273 and that would have taken me to Delaware Avenue which runs through the center of town. I’d suggest that is you are going to New Castle and don’t know the area, it is probably a good idea to have a detailed map of the city. Maybe print the Google map.

New Castle is a pretty little town that fronts directly on the Delaware River. There is a great tourism website that gives you details on New Castle. For those who travel with a GPS, I’ve copied a suggestion from the website.

For GPS purposes: Use the address of The Arsenal at Old New Castle which is on The Green near the Old Court House at the center of town. 30 Market St., New Castle, Delaware 19720

There are plenty of very old buildings. And much of the river front is a large city park. The town is well worth a stop. It is amazing that so much of this colonial city survives. Unfortunately, we were there on a Monday and most the historic attractions were closed as were many of the shops in the center of town. I think we’ll be back but not on Monday.

We left New Castle intending to follow DE 9 out of town but again our plans were foiled by the construction and we once again got lost. We eventually managed to get back to DE 9 a bit south of New Castle

The road south of New Castle goes through an industrial area with a refinery, a power plant, and the like but soon becomes rural. Oddly since it runs close to the Delaware River and Bay, you don’t get to see that much water from the road but you do get the occasional view of the Salem nuclear plant near the southern end of New Jersey.

Several miles later we passed through part of Delaware City and then over a long and high bridge carries DE 9 across the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.

For a few miles we travel past farms and the Augustine Wildlife Area and then reach the small village of Port Penn. As you might guess this is named after William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. Most people don’t realize it but what we now call Delaware was part of Penn’s land grant. Port Penn is home of the Port Penn Interpretive Center.

Once again, timing prevented us from seeing this as the Port Penn Interpretive Center was not open on that Monday.

After Port Penn, we continued past farms, fields, and salt marsh. By this time I started to get hungry for lunch but we saw nowhere to eat along DE 9 so we took a quick break by following DE 299 which goes into Odessa and then Middletown.

If you have had enough driving for the day, DE 299 intersects with DE 1 between Odessa and Middletown. If you want to drive a bit more, there is another intersection with DE 1 near Dover that is the way we elected to go.

After lunch we just followed DE 299 back to DE 9 and continued our journey southward. At first, it was a very similar ride to that just before lunch. We passed the Cedar Swamp and Woodland Beach Wildlife Areas.

Since our guidebook suggested the that a side trip to the town of Woodland Beach was worthwhile, we detoured there. It is just a few miles along DE 6 past an extensive network of waterways through the salt marsh. We enjoyed the side-trip and especially the pier going out into the bay. Town is small and very low-key and I imagine it is a great place to be if you like fishing or exploring the marshes by boat.

We returned to DE 9 via DE 6 and continued south. After a few more miles of farmland, we took DE 8 to DE 1. If you wanted to explore Dover, the state capital, you could continue west on DE 8 but we were ready to head home.

I’ve mentioned DE 1 a few times. From just south of Dover north to I-95 it is a wonderful road. Although is is just a state highway, it is as good as any interstate highway I’ve driven on (and better than quite a few). It is a toll road and E-Z pass is accepted.

We have an EZ pass so we were able to use the high speed E-Z pass lanes to avoid stopping to pay the toll. (It still costs but it is taken from my E-Zpass account). A bit south of Dover the Expressway ends so it is more like a normal highway.

We drove all the way to I-95 and then home. The interchange between I-95 and DE 1 is under construction and a bit messy but clearly marked. I think I would probably consider an alternate route to avoid this intersection if I was doing this again.

It was a pleasant drive and we were home by late afternoon.