Bellevue State Park

Bellevue State Park is a 328acre Delaware state park in the suburbs of Wilmington in New Castle County, Delaware in the United States. The park is named for Bellevue Hall, the former mansion of William du Pont, Jr. Many of the facilities at the park were built by du Pont. Bellevue State Park overlooks the Delaware River and is open for year-round recreation, daily, from 8 a.m. until sunset. The Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church and Parsonage is located in Bellevue State Park; it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.HistoryThe lands which comprise the bulk of Bellevue State Park were originally the estate of a wealthy wool merchant, Hanson Robinson. In 1855, Robinson built a Gothic Revival castle as the centerpiece of his property and named it Woolton Hall. The dark stone castle was outfitted with several towers that allowed Robinson to get a scenic view of the Delaware River. Next to the entrance to the park, there still remains a small monument that Robinson installed marking the year he built the home.The estate was acquired by shipping magnate C. R. Griggs after the death of Robinson. Griggs kept Woolton Hall intact, but built a carriage house in the 1870s to house his collection of antique carriages.