We spent today in Delaware. You should know that much of Delaware is closed on Mondays. We were able to visit the capitol. We also wanted to visit one of the mansions in Delaware. It appears they all are closed on Mondays. We then looked for a museum to visit. Same issue, many museums are closed on Mondays.
Our tour of the capitol was very interesting. The capitol is located in a very nice area with numerous other state buildings and museums. For the most part, we could only look at the outside of many buildings because it was Monday.
The capitol is a relatively new structure. It was built in 1931. It is called the Legislative Hall.
The building is well organized and nicely decorated. From the main entrance, you can see the grand staircase to the second floor and the entrance to the Senate and House chambers.
On the second floor, there is a gallery of portraits of the governors of the state.
From the second floor, you can enter the house chamber gallery.
The upper level of the house chamber displays artwork that traces the history of the state of Delaware.
The view from the Senate gallery also shows similar artwork detailing Delaware’s history.
From the main floor of the Senate Chamber, you get the sense of the size difference of the various states. There are no offices for the legislators in this building. Their offices are located in their districts. Delaware is small enough that members of both houses travel to Dover on session days.
This picture shows the park like setting of the Legislative Hall. Directly behind where this picture was taken is the Old State House.
The old State House served as the capitol building from 1792 until 1931. From 1792 until 1873, it also was the Kent County Court House.
The Old State House has been restored to its earlier historic configuration. The entry to the building is the court room. The structure of the room was originally much more like English court rooms rather than the courtrooms we see in America today.
Walking up the stairs to the gallery for the house chamber shows how low the ceilings were for the second floor. This is not trick photography. The entrance to the room is under six feet in height.
The legislative chambers are also a more cozy size than most similar rooms in other states. Perhaps we would be better served if all the state legislatures followed the example of Delaware and kept their functions and buildings more simple.
The park area around the capitol was both beautiful and solemn. The park included a Law Enforcement memorial and an EMS memorial. Both memorials note the names of those who lost their lives in service to the people of Delaware.
During our planning for the trip to Delaware, we thought we had found a mansion that was open on Mondays. When we arrived, we discovered that we were wrong. The buildings and the grounds were open to drive and walk, but all the buildings were closed for the day.
Our visit to Delaware was informative, fun, and enjoyable, even though a Monday visit was limited because so many places were closed.