Wilmington State Parks is a 576-acre collection of four park units in and near Wilmington, Delaware, most of them along Brandywine Creek and managed together by the state since 1998. Its oldest component, Brandywine Park, began in 1886 through the efforts of William Poole Bancroft, who worked with Frederick Law Olmsted to shape creekside land into public green space. Brandywine Park, Rockford Park, and H. Fletcher Brown Park form a connected landscape that includes gardens, trails, a zoo, athletic grounds, and Rockford Tower. The more distant Hobbs Tract was added in 2004. Together, these parks preserve scenery while reflecting Wilmington’s civic, industrial, and philanthropic history.