Text Box: Welcome to northern Delaware! The Delaware River, a major waterway for early exploration, settlement, and transportation forms the eastern border. To the west, the historic Mason-Dixon Line separated the two border slave-holding states of Delaware and Maryland. A unique circular border drawn from the City of New Castle’s courthouse divides Delaware from Pennsylvania to the north. To the south, the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal has long served as a cultural divider between the state’s industrial north and agricultural south. Geology largely determined the location and type of development in northern Delaware. Here the Piedmont, formed by the edges of the Appalachian Mountain Range with its rocky terrain and steep falls, meets the Atlantic Coastal Plain with its level, sandy landscape. The fall line marks the edge of the Piedmont Plateau, separating the northeastern portion from the remainder of the state. The Piedmont includes the highest elevations in the state, and steep rolling hills cut by a series of creeks flowing south into the Christina and Delaware rivers. Piedmont fieldstone and quarried rock historically used in construction creates a distinctive architectural environment. South of the fall line, the topography shifts from gently rolling to level land and soils well-suited to field crops such as corn and wheat. Text Box: Water, water, everywhere! Part of the Delmarva Peninsula, the State of Delaware and the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland together almost form an island, surrounded on three sides by the Delaware River and Bay, and the Chesapeake Bay. Crisscrossed by creeks and bordered by tidal marsh, Delaware has long relied on natural and manmade waterways for transportation, power, and recreation. The creeks provided power for the hundreds of flour, saw, and textile mills that operated along their banks during the late 18th and 19th centuries and shaped transportation routes for commercial and military activities. In 1829, the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal­-a National Historic Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering Landmark­-shortened the shipping distance between Philadelphia and Baltimore by 300 miles. It is now a regional recreational resource enjoyed by thousands each year. Tidal marshlands along the Delaware River are of great ecological importance to the region, continuing to provide habitat and food in the form of oysters, turtles, wild fowl, and muskrats. Today much of that marshland is preserved as public open space and wildlife refuges. Text Box: Wilmington In the middle of it all Midway between New York City and Washington, D.C. along the I-95 corridor, by car, Wilmington is 30 minutes from center city Philadelphia, 60 minutes from Baltimore, and two hours from New York City or Washington, D.C. Over 70 trains arrive daily at Wilmington’s train station, an historic Frank Furness district, conveniently located at the Riverfront in downtown Wilmington. The Philadelphia International Airport, with over 550 flights arriving daily, is located 20 minutes away. 24-hour shuttle services operate to and from Wilmington.