Contact: By: Bruce Pringle

Dover | October 20, 2009 - Delaware's congressional delegation will introduce proposed legislation today to create a national park in Delaware.

Sen. Thomas R. Carper, D-Del., who will sponsor a Senate version of the proposal, said Monday the National Park Service supports the development of a history-themed park in New Castle focused on early European settlement and the Colonial period. Park rangers in New Castle, he said, would tell visitors about other historical sites, including Underground Railroad stations, the Wilmington riverfront, Fort Delaware, Hagley Museum and Lewes.

"Imagine a bicycle wheel with a hub in the middle. The hub is Old New Castle. From there, park rangers will direct people to a whole lot of attractions around the state," he said in an interview following a ceremonial groundbreaking for a new fitness center at Dover Air Force Base.

More details were to be released today.

Sen. Edward E. "Ted" Kaufman, D-Del., will co-sponsor the Senate bill and Rep. Michael N. Castle, R-Del., will introduce a similar measure in the House of Representatives, according to Sen. Carper.

He said the bills are eight years in the making, the result of his being asked at a tourism meeting why Delaware has no national park. It is the only state without one.

"When you go to the national parks Web site and look up Delaware, it looks like nothing is going on here," he said.

But a National Parks Service study last year concluded that successful park could be established in Delaware to focus on Dutch, Swedish and English settlements and Delaware's Role in the creation of the United States.

Terrance D. Moore, chief of planning and special studies for the park service's Northeast region, said in December such a park would operate as a partnership in which the park service paid 50 percent of the cost.

Mr. Moore was unavailable for comment Monday.

Still to be determined is the project's fate in Congress.

Sen. Carper likened the project's progress to that of a football team moving toward a score. "We're inside the 20. I think maybe we're inside the 10. I don't think it's a first and goal yet."