Fort DuPont is named in honor of Rear Adm. Samuel Francis Du Pont and located on the Reeden Point tract, land initially granted to Henry Ward in 1675. Fort DuPont originated during the Civil War as a heavily armed earthwork fortification. In 1864, Sgt. Bishop Crumrine wrote, "these guns command the channel and could blow to atoms any vessel rash enough to attempt to pass." In the decades to follow, the battery at Delaware City was gradually modernized into a formidable military post that remained active through World War II. Declared surplus, the site reopened in 1948 as the Governor Bacon Health Center. By 1996, over 300 acres were reestablished as Fort DuPont State Park.

From strolling the gentle dunes of Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware to hunting for fossils at Calvert Cliffs in Maryland to curiously ogling the knobby knees of the bald cypress trees in the freshwater swamps at First Landing State Park in Virginia, there's a lot to love about the easy-going coastal trails in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. This book covers 50 hikes in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia with hike sections divided by state. Readers will meet wild ponies on the Island Nature Trail in Chincoteague, Virginia and hike to the 35-foot-tall Turkey Point Lighthouse that dates back to 1833 at Elk Neck State Park in Maryland for inspiring views across the Chesapeake Bay from atop a 100-foot-bluff. Hikes will highlight birding and wildlife viewing hotspots, local history and heritage, and bucket-list outdoor gems.

Includes the Report of the Mississippi River Commission, 1881-19 .