Pea Patch Island is a small island, approximately 1 mi (1.6 km) long, in the U.S. state of Delaware, located in the mid channel of the Delaware River near its entrance into Delaware Bay. It is a low, marshy island, located in New Castle County, facing Delaware City on the Delaware shore, and Finns Point on the New Jersey shore. Once the location of strategic military defenses, the island is currently owned by the State of Delaware as Fort Delaware State Park.
The island emerged as a mud bank in the river in the 18th century. According to folklore, the island received its name after a ship full of peas ran aground on it, spilling its contents and leading to a growth of the plant on the island. In the 1790s, Pierre L'Enfant suggested the use of the island as part of the defenses of New Castle, Delaware and Philadelphia. During the War of 1812, a seawall and dykes were built on the island, with a view to building a martello tower there.[1] By 1814, the island had been sufficiently developed for the construction of the first Fort Delaware. A five-pointed star fort was built 1815–1824. However, this fort was wrecked by a fire in 1831. Construction began on a much larger polygonal fort in 1836, but this project was derailed by a decade-long legal battle over which state owned the island, which was won by Delaware. Construction then began in 1848 on the current fort, with an irregular pentagon design about the size of the previous star fort. The fort was substantially complete by 1860.[2] During the American Civil War, Fort Delaware was used by the Union as a camp for Confederate prisoners, in particular ones captured at the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. Many of the prisoners and some guards who died at the fort are buried at nearby Finns Point National Cemetery in New Jersey. Around the turn of the century, a large battery for three then-modern 12-inch guns on disappearing carriages was built in the fort as part of the Endicott program, with batteries for smaller guns elsewhere on the island. On the shores flanking the island, Fort DuPont and Fort Mott were built with modern weapons, and preparations were made to lay underwater minefields in the river. The defenses around Pea Patch Island were disarmed during World War II, as Fort Miles at the mouth of the Delaware estuary superseded them.[3] In the early 20th century, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged a channel around the island, using the infill to double the island's size on its northern end.
The island is publicly accessible by ferry from both the Delaware and New Jersey banks. In addition to the historic features of the state park, the island provides a significant wetlands stop for migratory birds along the Atlantic Flyway. It is the location of the largest colony of herons in the U.S. north of Florida.
^Dobbs, Kelli W., Rebecca J. Siders. Fort Delaware Architectural Research Project. Newark, DE: University of Delaware, Center for Historic Architecture and Design, 1999.
^Weaver II, John R. (2018). A Legacy in Brick and Stone: American Coastal Defense Forts of the Third System, 1816-1867, 2nd Ed. McLean, VA: Redoubt Press. pp. 171–176. ISBN 978-1-7323916-1-1.
PeaPatchIsland is a small island, approximately 1 mi (1.6 km) long, in the U.S. state of Delaware, located in the mid channel of the Delaware River near...
PeaPatch, Peapatch and P-Patch may refer to: Peapatch, Virginia Peapatch, West Virginia PeaPatchIsland P-Patch, community garden plots in Seattle This...
facility, designed by chief engineer Joseph Gilbert Totten and located on PeaPatchIsland in the Delaware River. During the American Civil War, the Union used...
(117 ha) Delaware state park on PeaPatchIsland in New Castle County, Delaware. A fortress was built on PeaPatchIsland by the United States Army in 1815...
and the Delaware River entrance to the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. PeaPatchIsland, part of the state of Delaware, sits in the channel of the river facing...
Lafayette during the American Revolutionary War, who proposed the use of PeaPatchIsland at the head of the bay for a defensive fortification to protect the...
PeaPatchIsland National Park Service: Reedy Island Range Rear Light Archived 2012-07-28 at the Wayback Machine LighthouseFriends.com: Reedy Island Range...
Jersey, to Delaware City, Delaware, where they can catch service to PeaPatchIsland/Fort Delaware. This change was made due to Hurricane Sandy damaging...
occupies the northeastern portion of the Delmarva Peninsula, and some islands and territory within the Delaware River. It is the 2nd smallest and 6th...
B, 5th Delaware Volunteer Infantry that served at Fort Delaware on PeaPatchIsland. He was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in...
islands in the U.S. state of Delaware. Artificial Island, New Jersey — A small part of the Island is in New Castle County, Delaware PeaPatchIsland —...
Delaware in 1913, with defenses initially at and near Fort Delaware on PeaPatchIsland near Delaware City. In 1925 the command was renamed as a Harbor Defense...
1862, Fort Delaware, a harbor defense facility that was located on PeaPatchIsland in the Delaware River and had been designed by chief engineer Joseph...
Conservancy. Just to the north in the middle of the Delaware River, PeaPatchIsland is home to one of the largest and most diverse heronries on the East...
are not counted as part of any particular season of the program. Rhode Island portal Television portal Ghost Hunters home media releases Sci Fi was rebranded...
arrested by the Federal authorities and imprisoned at Fort Delaware on PeaPatchIsland until September 1865. Page returned to Norfolk after the war, eventually...
cylinder in the slasher room. 2.13 (19) "Fort Delaware" Fort Delaware, PeaPatchIsland, Delaware November 29, 2015 (2015-11-29) TWC travel to the Delaware...
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Delaware PeaPatchIsland, Delaware 164 3 February 2009 The Southern Mansion Cape May, New Jersey 165 3 March 2009 The Conference House Staten Island, New...
Fort Hamilton, Fort on Sandy Hook, New Jersey (later Fort Hancock); PeaPatchIsland, Delaware: Fort Delaware; Baltimore Harbor, Maryland: Fort Carroll;...
mistakes could send any of these investigators packing. 10 "Island Castaway" PeaPatchIsland, Delaware - Fort Delaware June 23, 2010 (2010-06-23) 1.034...
Base Ball Club also plays at least once per year at Fort Delaware on PeaPatchIsland and also at nearby Port Penn, Delaware. The Diamond State Base Ball...
which runs along the New Jersey side of the Delaware River from Bulls Island, New Jersey to Trenton, unites the waters of the Delaware and Raritan rivers...
the balance of the war in that command. Fort Delaware, located on PeaPatchIsland, served as a prisoner-of-war camp for captured Confederate soldiers...
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