The Pink Fuzzy Slipper Writers

The Founding Colonies – Delaware

Today, we’re focusing on Delaware, the first state in to sign the constitution.

Last year the dh and I drove up to Canada to visit his folks and we stayed on the outskirts of Dover . Much to our delighted surprise we discovered the Dutch and other Nordic peoples were the first to settle in the state. The dh was born in Holland, but he’s not just Dutch, he’s Friesian. Don’t ask - they’re from a particular province and they have their own national anthem. Go figure.

So below are the Delaware facts.

Delaware

Capital: Dover
Size: approximately 5,500 square miles with 618 miles of coastline
Size Rank: 48
Bird: Blue Hen Chicken
Admitted to Statehood: December 7, 1787, 1st Constitution
Population: 783,000
Presidents (birth): none

Blue Hen Chicken? Really? Oh gosh, I couldn’t have not gone there, and there is a tale behind that name, of course. Apparently during the revolutionary war a certain Captain Jonah (had to be -- right?) Caldwell decided to take on board a few cocks and hens(and we’re only now getting into erotica right?) Methinks we really doth protest too much.

Ahem, back to the tale. Captain Caldwell got bored and so did his men. So they took to pitting the cocks against each other. Oh my, what I couldn’t do with that sentence, but this is a PG rated site so we’ll just have to use our imaginations.

Tickle, tickle, nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

And these cockfights became famous(I dunno guys -- men are different) so did the species of combating cocks, hence the Blue Hen Chicken. Gawd, I am so hoping that the local high schools do not name their teams after this bird. Can you imagine your son being the quarterback for the Blue Hen Chickens? Having to wear that T-shirt?

Omigod, just butcher me now.

Okay, I can’t even get to the smallest town, my poor strained mind is too focused on all the alliterations and dangling participles I can dangle on that moniker, Blue Hen Chickens.

So the bare facts then, the smallest town in Delaware is Farmington with a population of 75 and a size of less than a tenth of a square mile.

And the state is boring, no one seems to have ever done anything. But it is very picturesque. And there is a ton of beautiful coastline.

Somehow I just know I’ll have a lot more to say about the next state, Georgia.

Have a great hump day. (Now how could I resist that?)

JC