National parks in Delaware

Delaware's four National Park Service units cover a small state thoroughly. Two of them follow the same tidal world of the Chesapeake and Delaware estuaries, so paddlers, birders, and families who love coastal landscapes will find Delaware delivers more than its size suggests. The Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail has the highest profile of the four, threading history and outdoor adventure along routes a colonial-era explorer once charted. First State National Historical Park is quieter, the kind of place that honors the constitutional and colonial roots behind Delaware's nickname without making a spectacle of it. The Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve and Chesapeake Bay unit fills out the list with wildlife-rich shorelines where you trade crowds for herons. If you would rather discover something than be impressed by it, Delaware is worth the trip.