Armitage Inn
Fort Delaware
Fort Delaware was constructed on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River to be part of a mid-nineteenth-century coastal defense network of forts. In 1861 the War Department determined that it would be an ideal site for political prisoners, and Confederate officers and enlisted men.
Often as many as 12,500 prisoners were in residence, many living in wooden barracks outside the fort walls. Although the fort was surrounded by a moat, a number of prisoners escaped by swimming to shore, where they were given aid by Southern sympathizers.
The damp, insect-infested terrain fostered epidemics, and some 2,700 prisoners perished. Most of them are buried just across the river in what is now a national cemetery. A museum in the fort houses scale models of the fort and Civil War relics.
The Delafort, an 88-passenger ferryboat, takes visitors to the fort from the last weekend in April to the last weekend in September, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, 10:00-6:00. It also runs from mid-June to Labor Day, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, 10:00-6:00. The ride costs $6 for adults, $4 for children two to twelve. For information phone 302-834-7941.
Armitage InnBuilt in 1732, the Armitage Inn is beautifully situated on the banks of the river in New Castle’s Battery Park, a few steps away from the spot where William Penn first set foot in the New World.
From the steps of this historic inn, you can see Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River, where upward of 33,000 Confederates were imprisoned.
There are five handsomely decorated guest rooms, three on the second floor, two on the third. All are sumptuously decorated, and those in the rear have a view of the river. On the ground floor, guests may relax in the parlor, the library, or on a screened porch overlooking a walled garden.
Address: 2 The Strand, New Castle, DE 19720; tel: 302-328-6618; fax: 302-324-1163.
Accommodations: Five guest rooms, all with private baths, three with whirlpool tubs.
Amenities: Air-conditioning, off-street parking; rooms have phones, cable TV, feather beds. Restaurants and antiques shops in walking distance.
Rates: $$$. All major credit cards and personal checks.
Restrictions: No children under twelve, no pets, no smoking.