Fort Christina

NCC-A18:

Set of five (5) tin State of Delaware Historic Markers.

Marker 1:

This park commemorates New Sweden, the colony founded when Peter Minuit’s expedition landed from the Swedish ships Kalmar Nyckel and Fogel Grip on the natural wharf of rocks at the riverside about March 29, 1638. Fort Christina, built here, became the first permanent European settlement in the Delaware Valley.

Marker 2:

Fort Christina monument was dedicated here June 27, 1938 celebrating the Tercentenary of the Landing. Participants included the Swedish Royal Commission led by their Royal Highnesses, the Crown Prince, the Crown Princess, and Prince Bertil, the Finnish Official Delegation, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Governor Richard C. McMullen of Delaware.

Marker 3:

The park was created by the State of Delaware for the Tercentenary in 1938. It was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of Interior March 29, 1963 in the presence of Prince Bertil of Sweden, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and other distinguished guests at the celebration of the 325th Anniversary of the Landing here at The Rocks.

Marker 4:

The Monument is a gift of the people of Sweden to the people of the United States. Its entire cost was met by about 225,000 individual subscriptions from residents of almost every community in Sweden responding to a broadcast suggestion. It is a permanent symbol of the friendship between the two peoples.

Marker 5:

The Monument, designed and executed by the Swedish-American sculptor, Carl Milles, is an irregular hexagon of black Swedish granite. Bas reliefs show contacts between settlers and Indians, Queen Christina on horseback, Governor Johan Printz, the Swedes receiving William Penn, and other scenes. Surmounting the shaft is a stylized wave bearing the Kalmar Nyckel.

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