Though we know this area today for its military history, more than three hundred years ago it was a farm. In fact, for many years agriculture coexisted here with artillery.

The land you see around you was originally part of the “Reeden Point” tract granted in 1675 to settler Henry Ward. This large tract of land included all of what is now Fort DuPont State Park, along with Delaware City to the north and a large portion of the Thousand Acre Marsh, to the south. Just north of where you are standing was a “bevor Damme (beaver dam) standing by a Thickety Swampe,” as it was described in the grant.

During the American Revolution, this region was the home of the “Reeden Point Farm Company,” which raised horses and feed for sale in Philadelphia. Before the invention of the internal combustion engine, cities required enormous amounts of hay to feed draft animals. Wild “salt hay” was gathered from this and other marshes along the shores of the Delaware River and taken to Philadelphia in small ships.

Defending the Delaware

In 1778 the American Revolution came to Reeden Point. The Americans feared that the British would sail up Delaware Bay and capture Philadelphia. To avoid British warships, Captain Matthew Aiken sheltered a small fleet of American supply ships in a creek somewhere on the property. Captain Aiken’s efforts to hide the fleet proved unnecessary. The British overestimated the American defenses and took the longer route up Chesapeake Bay and overland to Philadelphia.

Three decades later, during the War of 1812, the military once again made plans to defend the river approach to Philadelphia against the British. Their plan called for the use of small gunboats along with a battery, or unit, of cannons mounted on shore, at this location. These guns were meant to fire red-hot cannon balls at the enemy’s wooden ships and set them on fire. Once again, the British did not advance up the Delaware, but these temporary precautions mark the first fortification of this site.