Battery Park sits along a stretch of the Delaware River shoreline, beginning at the bottom of Delaware Street in New Castle, and going southwestward for a little over a mile next to Gambacorta Marsh to where Army Creek enters the Delaware. There are two dikes, one holding back the marsh and the other a former railroad spur line. There is little left of the original battery built to defend against French incursions before the Revolution, and later against the British. Too, the railroad that used to run from where the small white wooden ticket office now stands, all the way to Frenchtown, Maryland, is little more than an historic footnote.
Yet, what remains is a beautiful place to walk or bike along the water's edge and witness some amazing sunsets. There are the remains of the small harbor sticking their waterlogged lumber above the surface of the river in spots, and a few ice piers placed to keep ice from clogging the shipping lanes.
It is hard to imagine that New Castle is older than Philadelphia, and was the spot where William Penn first set foot in America to oversee his vast land grant from the king. But, the harbor here is not very big, and Philadelphia soon became the major port for this region. Commerce was not sufficient to sustain any significant long term economic growth, although for about 30 years the New Castle & Frenchtown Railroad (the first on the east coast), did help with transport between Philly and Baltimore, because going by boat between the two cities was difficult due to the topography of the Delmarva Peninsula. Eventually, first canals, and later larger railroads and toll roads assumed the largest share of commercial transport, and New Castle became a literal backwater in time.
Yet, without that, Battery Park would likely have been overrun by industrialization and extensive shipping, and not become the lovely green space that natives and visitors enjoy today. read more