Bellevue State Park

One of the coolest parts about adventuring in Northern Delaware is that each location is rich in history, mostly in part to the DuPont Family. Bellevue State Park is no exception, considering that it was once a DuPont estate, and many of the buildings on property were built by the late William DuPont Jr. including but not limited to a mansion and equestrian facility. Both are operational to this day with the former used as a rental facility for events and the latter (known as Wellspring Farm) used for lessons, boarding and more.

The boys were immediately drawn to the horses when we arrived and loved getting up close to the fence to watch them. Despite living on a farm, we have no livestock or barnyard pets (YET!) and my kids are big time animal lovers so this was an unexpected treat for them. I had the intention of spending most of our visit hiking on the Nature Preserve Trail but on our way, we had an unexpected, lengthy stop at the pond…

We went to check out the little bridge that crosses the end of the pond on our way to the trail and an older gentleman and his teenaged grandson were there fishing. D is pretty intrigued by fishing, and although we’ve taken him before, we’ve never had luck catching anything so he loves to watch other people reel in their fish. It just so happened that as we walked up, the older guy got a bite and was about to start reeling when he noticed D’s excitement and invited him over to help. D jumped right in, took over and was so proud of himself when he got the fish to the shore. Without skipping a beat, the man offered to let D cast the line back in gave him a little lesson. After he casted, D just decided he wanted to keep fishing and the old man gladly obliged, giving him pointers, encouragement and coaching. It was such a special thing for a complete stranger to do for him, and my heart melted seeing how happy he was! If you think your kids would also enjoy fishing, this is a great spot to try it, as there was no shortage of nibbles and they even sell bait on site.

When we finally peeled the kids away from the fishing poles, we ended up walking over towards the park office and garden plots and to be honest, we were a bit discombobulated as there were no trail markers over that way. We intended on walking around the Bellevue Woods Nature Preserve, but I believe we missed the trail entrance which goes through a meadow. Another lesson in planning ahead for us and studying the trail map…

Because we spent so much time exploring near the mansion, visiting the horses and fishing, we didn’t have time to check out the playground during this visit, but there is one. Additionally, many state park programs take place at this location. Concerts, hayrides, Summer camps, and much more can be found on the blog calendar for year round fun!