Beaver Valley Rock Shelter Site | |
 | |
| Nearest city | Wilmington, Delaware |
|---|---|
| Area | less than one acre |
| NRHP reference No. | 78000910 [1] |
| Added to NRHP | September 1, 1978 |
The Beaver Valley Rock Shelter Site is the only formally recognized cave in the US state of Delaware. It is located in New Castle County near Wilmington and the state line with Pennsylvania.
Up until the mid-twentieth century and despite ample historical evidence that Delaware Indians used it for shelter, the National Speleological Society maintained that Delaware was the only state in the union lacking a cave. [2] In 1958, a local resident, George Jackson, added this cave to the national cave files. [3] The cave was the focus of research in the 1940s when the Archeological Society of Delaware conducted a dig which revealed conclusively that native tribes (including Lenni Lenape) had used it for shelter and storage. [2] Sitting just 100 feet from the Pennsylvania border this small cave extends just 56 feet to its furthest reach, but has become one of the most researched caves in the United States relative to its size. Jack Speece notes that the cave has gone by many names in its history. Indian Cave, Beaver Valley Rock Shelter, and Wolf Rock Cave preceded the now more commonly accepted "Beaver Valley Cave". [2]
The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. [1]
Delaware has 3 caves or rock shelters in total, however, Beaver Valley Rock Shelter Site is the only formally recognized cave by the National Speleological Society. There are two other caves in Delaware: Gaige’s Cave and the Brandywine Springs Cave.
Brandywine Springs cave The Brandywine Springs cave was surveyed by The Delaware Geological Survey, but it is not recognized in any other publications. The Brandywine cave is in Brandywine Springs and is "approximately 100 yards east of the tracks is one of the largest outcrops in the park. Here along the hillside, a thick layer of crinkle-folded, yellow-weathering gneiss overlies a layer of garnet-bearing quartzite and amphibolite. At the contact between the quartzite and the schist, a large piece of the quartzite has fallen out creating a small cave. Maybe natives used this cave, but it is not very inviting. If you hit the black rocks with a hammer they will ring. Look for the tiny lavender garnets in the quartzite."- Delaware Geological Survey. [4]
Gaige’s Cave is located 15 yards from Red Clay Creek on Mt. Cuba Road, Hockessin. It is not known if the Gaige’s Cave has been surveyed or officially recognized by any known geological publications. The name of the cave derives from the local who first documented it around 2020. The cave is small and is only approximately 15 feet deep.
There are several documented caves or shelter sites that have been razed or disrupted. Publications from the 19th and 20th century have proven their once existence. All these sites are located in upper New Castle County. The best documented on is provided by Hilborne T. Cresson. He discovered many artifacts and bones of indigenous peoples at the destroyed Naamans Creek Rock Shelter site. The site was destroyed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Most of the artifacts and remains are in the possession of the Peabody Museum and other New England based organizations. [5]
The cave is featured in the film Dead Poet's Society as the location of the titular group's meetings. The scenes featuring a cave, used a mix of shots from Banning Park in Wilmington, Beaver Valley Shelter Site, and recreated indoor sets.
Claymont is a census-designated place (CDP) in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population of Claymont was 9,895.
Bethel Township is a township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It contains the two unincorporated communities of Booth's Corner and Chelsea. The population was 8,791 at the 2010 census.
Brandywine Creek is a tributary of the Christina River in southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Delaware in the United States. The Lower Brandywine is 20.4 miles (32.8 km) long and is a designated Pennsylvania Scenic River with several tributary streams. The East Branch and West Branch of the creek originate within 2 miles (3 km) of each other on the slopes of Welsh Mountain in Honey Brook Township, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of their confluence.
The Ebright Azimuth is the point with the highest benchmark monument elevation in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is marked with a geodetic benchmark monument and has an elevation of 447.85 feet (136.50 m) above sea level. The only state high-point with a lower elevation is Britton Hill in the state of Florida at 345 feet (105 m) above sea level.
Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park is a 733-acre (297 ha) Florida State Park located on Peacock Springs Road, two miles (3 km) east of Luraville and on State Road 51, 16 miles (26 km) southwest of Live Oak, Florida. Activities include picnicking, swimming and diving, and wildlife viewing. Among the wildlife of the park are deer, bobcats, raccoon, squirrels, beaver and otters, as well as turkey, blue heron and barred owls. The park name commemorates the work of diver and explorer Wes Skiles. Prior to 2010 the park was known as Peacock Springs State Park. Amenities include a nature trail, six sinkholes, and Peacock and Bonnet Springs, with miles of underwater caves popular with cave divers. The two springs are tributaries of the Suwannee River. The park is open from 8:00 am till sundown year round.
Centerville is an unincorporated community in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. Centerville is now known primarily for being the location of Du Pont family estates, as well as several other wealthy business families from nearby Wilmington, and the home of Governor Jack Markell.
Gwinhurst is an unincorporated community in New Castle County, Delaware, United States in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Delaware Route 92 (DE 92) is a 8.83-mile-long (14.21 km) road in northern New Castle County, Delaware, that runs a short distance to the south of the Pennsylvania/Delaware state line for most of its length. The route runs from DE 100 near Montchanin east to U.S. Route 13 (US 13) in Claymont. The road is a two-lane rural road between the western terminus and US 202, passing through Brandywine Creek State Park and the Brandywine Valley section of First State National Historical Park. East of US 202, DE 92 is a four-lane divided highway called Naamans Road that passes through suburban areas to the north of Wilmington, with an interchange at Interstate 95 (I-95) in Claymont. DE 92 was first built as a state highway east of US 202 during the 1920s and 1930s. By 1968, the route was designated onto its current alignment. In the 1990s, DE 92 east of US 202 was widened into a divided highway.
Wilmington State Parks is a state park located in Wilmington, Delaware. Open year-round, the park is approximately 345 acres (140 ha) of land mostly situated along the Brandywine Creek. The state park is made up of a group of smaller parks that are administratively managed as a single unit.
Talleyville is an unincorporated community in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. Talleyville is located at the intersection of U.S. Route 202, Mt. Lebanon Road, and Silverside Road to the north of Wilmington. Its ZIP code is 19803.
Beaver Valley straddles the Pennsylvania and Delaware border in Delaware County, PA and New Castle County, DE. An unincorporated place name, it is traversed by several streams which drain to Beaver Run which itself empties into the Brandywine River. It is approximately bounded by US Route 202 to the east, The Brandywine River to the west, Thompsons Bridge Road to the south, and Smithbridge Road to the north, with Beaver Valley Road encircling a large portion of the valley.
Naaman is an unincorporated community in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. It is 0.5 mile south of the Pennsylvania state line and 7.5 miles northeast of Wilmington. Naaman is located at the intersection of Delaware Route 92 and Ridge Road, northeast of Claymont.
Shellpot Creek is a tributary of the Delaware River in northeast New Castle County, Delaware. The stream rises between Grubb Road and Shipley Road, south of Naaman's Road at 39°49′19″N75°31′55″W in Brandywine Hundred and flows southeast for about six miles before discharging into the Delaware River at 39°44′05″N75°30′16″W near Edgemoor. Prior to 1938, the stream drained into the Brandywine Creek, but was subsequently redirected to the Delaware River.
First State National Historical Park is a National Park Service unit which lies primarily in the state of Delaware but which extends partly into Pennsylvania in Chadds Ford. Initially created as First State National Monument by President Barack Obama under the Antiquities Act on March 25, 2013, the park was later redesignated as First State National Historical Park by Congress.
Old First Presbyterian Church of Wilmington is a historic Presbyterian church located on West Street on Brandywine Park Drive in Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware.
The Ridgeley sandstone is a sandstone or quartzite of Devonian age found in the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia, United States. The Ridgeley is fine-grained, siliceous, calcareous in its lower strata, sometimes fossiliferous, and sometimes locally pebbly or conglomeritic. Varying in thickness from 12 to 500 feet, this rock slowly erodes into white quartz sand that often washes or blows away, but sometimes accumulates at large outcrops. When freshly broken, the rock is white, but outcrop surfaces are often stained yellowish by iron oxides.
The Cliefden Caves is a heritage-listed geoheritage site in Mandurama, Cowra Shire, New South Wales, Australia. The caves comprise Ordovician fossil localities, limestone caves, a spring and tufa dams, and a site where limestone was first discovered in inland Australia.
Alapocas Run State Park is a state park, located in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, along the Brandywine Creek and its Alapocas Run tributary. Open year-round, it is 415 acres (168 ha) in area. Much of the state park was created from land originally preserved by William Poole Bancroft in the early 1900s to be used as open space parkland by the city of Wilmington as it expanded. The park also includes the Blue Ball Barn, a dairy barn built by Alfred I. du Pont as part of his Nemours estate in 1914. In addition to walking trails, athletic fields, and playgrounds for children, one of the park's primary features is a rock climbing wall. The rock climbing wall is part of an old quarry across from historic Bancroft Mills on the Brandywine, and the quarry is also used for school educational programs centered on earth sciences.
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