Fort Christina Park
The rocky Christina River landing and a 1938 Swedish monument commemorate the New Sweden settlement begun here in 1638.
Artwork inspired by Edward Loper Sr.
The fort itself is gone. Swedish and Finnish colonists landed at the riverside rocks in 1638, then established New Sweden after obtaining land from the Lenape. What remains is a small memorial landscape, the landing place, and a black-granite column with a ship on top. That monument was a Swedish gift dedicated in 1938, three centuries after the landing.
Walk around Carl Milles’s column and examine its reliefs rather than viewing the ship only from the entrance. The story does not end with an isolated Swedish outpost: the Dutch captured the fort in 1655, and the settlement continued into the city that became Wilmington. A seasonal interpreter can connect this site with Old Swedes and the Kalmar Nyckel maritime center nearby.
- Landing
- 1638
- Monument
- Dedicated 1938
- Fort remains
- No standing seventeenth-century fort
Quick guide
- Find the rocks
- The riverside landing outlasted the seventeenth-century fort.
- Circle the monument
- Its ship and reliefs tell a later, 1938 story of remembrance.
Know before you go
- Read the landscape
- The riverbank explains why the landing and settlement were here.
- See the reliefs
- Milles embedded small narratives around the column.
- Ask about 1655
- Dutch conquest changed power but did not erase the settlement.
- Walk the triangle
- Old Swedes and Copeland Maritime Center add distinct chapters.
Good to know
There are no restrooms, running water, or boat ramp in the memorial park. Do not expect to tour a standing colonial fort; guided interpretation operates only on its seasonal schedule or by appointment.
Notice these
- The Rocks landing
- Milles black-granite monument
- Christina River edge