Brief History of your Preserve

The 3,050-acre White Clay Creek Preserve is in southern Chester County, three miles north of Newark, Delaware. The White Clay Creek Valley, which forms the core of the preserve, varies from steep to gradually rolling hills with some flat bottomlands, all drained by the creek. White Clay Creek Preserve shares a boundary with Delaware’s White Clay Creek State Park. Because White Clay Creek possesses outstanding scenic, wildlife, recreational, and cultural value, it has been designated by Congress as a National Wild and Scenic River. Thus, it shall be preserved in a free-flowing condition for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.

The White Clay Creek watershed is an exceptional resource in the bi-state area, renowned for its scenery, opportunities for birdwatching and trout fishing, and for its historic features, such as lime kilns and 19th-century mills. Other important resources include the federally listed endangered bog turtle, the most extensive mature Piedmont forests remaining in the state of Delaware, and the Cockeysville Marble Formation, an exceptional aquifer. The watershed is an important drinking water source for Pennsylvania and Delaware residents. Part of the Christina River Basin, White Clay Creek is a critical link to the Delaware Estuary, which is nationally and internationally important.

Read more about the history of White Clay Creek Preserve.