Brandywine Creek State Park is a 951-acre recreation and conservation area along Brandywine Creek north of Wilmington, preserving a scenic stretch of the Brandywine Valley. Much of it originated in the du Pont family’s Winterthur estate, expanded from the late 19th century into a large estate and dairy farm before being gradually reduced and sold. Preservation efforts intensified after Robert Wheelwright’s death in 1965, when citizens and the state moved to protect the land from housing development. Additional acreage brought the park to its present size in 1981. Today it is valued for trails, fishing streams, nature preserves, old-growth forest, rare songbirds, and environmental education.