Rockwood Park near Wilmington in New Castle County, Delaware — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)

Kitchen Garden

Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), January 28, 2022

1. Kitchen Garden Marker

Inscription.
Stone walls separated the kitchen garden from the rest of the property and provided a protected space to grow fruits and vegetables. Joseph Shipley had both a hothouse for exotic plants and a cold house for his prize-winning grapes. The stone buildings still standing housed a potting shed and a boiler used to provide heat for the hothouse. In the 1910s, the Bringhursts began to convert the vegetable garden into a formal garden.

[Captions:]
Left: 19th Century botanical print and letter to Joseph Shipley. (Letter from Rockwood Archives)

Middle: Aerial view of the kitchen garden after conversion to a formal garden, about 1950.

Right: Potting shed and boiler room, about 1900.

[Letter excerpt on the marker:]

Captain duPont Louviers to Joseph Shipley
August 29, 1859

"My Dear Sir,

Mrs. DuPont and myself were about on the day which your kind note came with the most beautiful grapes, of which you are so profuse to your friends.

These remarkable bunches made me observe that nature could be improved by care and cultivation even in comparison with these growths on her most favored regions. These very species
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I have seen in their greatest luxuriance on the shores of the Mediterranean, but there were none to compare with these."

Erected by New Castle County Parks & Recreation.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Horticulture & Forestry. A significant historical date for this entry is August 29, 1859.

Location. 39° 46.395′ N, 75° 31.276′ W. Marker is near Wilmington, Delaware, in New Castle County. It is in Rockwood Park. It can be reached from the intersection of Washington Street Extension and Shipley Road, on the left when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 4653 Washington Street Extension, Wilmington DE 19809, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Greater Philadelphia.

It is also in the American Mid-Atlantic,

on the Delmarva Peninsula,

and on the Eastern Seaboard. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region,

North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Netherland

and also one of the original Thirteen Colonies.

Other nearby markers. At

Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), January 28, 2022

2. Kitchen Garden Marker

least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Gardens and Landscape (within shouting distance of this marker); Fruit Cellar (within shouting distance of this marker); The Shipley-Bringhurst-Hargraves House (within shouting distance of this marker); Rockwood Mansion (within shouting distance of this marker); Allegheny Pachysandra (within shouting distance of this marker); Arrowwood Viburnum (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Conservatory (about 300 feet away); Gardener's Cottage (about 300 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Wilmington.

Credits. This page was last revised on February 19, 2025. It was originally submitted on January 29, 2022, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 258 times since then and 10 times this year. Last updated on February 18, 2025, by Carl Gordon Moore Jr. of North East, Maryland. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on January 29, 2022, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.