Fort DuPont (Images of America)

Fort DuPont is named in honor of Rear Adm. Samuel Francis Du Pont and located on the Reeden Point tract, land initially granted to Henry Ward in 1675. Fort DuPont originated during the Civil War as a heavily armed earthwork fortification. In 1864, Sgt. Bishop Crumrine wrote, "these guns command the channel and could blow to atoms any vessel rash enough to attempt to pass." In the decades to follow, the battery at Delaware City was gradually modernized into a formidable military post that remained active through World War II. Declared surplus, the site reopened in 1948 as the Governor Bacon Health Center. By 1996, over 300 acres were reestablished as Fort DuPont State Park.