Hockessin: Nature, History, and Special Places

Hockessin combines natural landscapes with places where Delaware’s history can be experienced firsthand. If you are looking for a vacation rental or vacation home for your trip, you can choose your accommodation based on your preferred focus: nature experiences, colonial history, African American educational history, or insights into agriculture each give your stay its own character.

Nature Along Red Clay Creek

Ashland Nature Center encompasses 130 acres of forests, meadows, and wetlands along the picturesque Red Clay Creek. This makes Hockessin home to a landscape that offers nature enthusiasts a variety of impressions. Those who enjoy spending time outdoors can consider this place an important part of their daily itinerary and combine their stay in Hockessin with a nature-focused travel program.

The Mt. Cuba Center offers another perspective on the plant world. The botanical garden is dedicated to protecting native plants and their habitats. For families with children of different ages, a visit to such a garden can provide a more peaceful complement to historical sightseeing, without requiring you to limit your trip to just one type of experience.

Colonial History and Notable Buildings

The Hockessin Friends Meetinghouse is a one-story fieldstone building. It was constructed in 1738 and expanded with a side addition in 1745. In colonial Hockessin, it became a center of social and religious life. The site is also connected to a specific event in the American Revolutionary War: British troops under the command of Lord Cornwallis camped there on September 9, 1777, on their way to the Battle of Brandywine.

The Cox-Phillips-Mitchell Agricultural Complex also tells the story of long-term change. The complex reflects the transformation of agricultural practices over nearly 300 years and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. It includes the brick house "Ocasson," which William and Catherine Cox had built in Flemish bond in 1726. Details like these make the site especially interesting if you want to do more than simply view historic buildings and instead place them within broader developments.

Remembering Education and Social Change

Hockessin School #107C, also known as Hockessin Colored School, was built in 1920 to serve the community’s African American students. Hockessin Colored School #107 also played a role in the 1954 ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States in Brown v. Board of Education, which led to the desegregation of schools nationwide. The building at 4266 Millcreek Road was repurposed as the Center for Diversity, Inclusion & Social Equity. This site provides access to American educational and civil rights history that goes beyond purely architectural considerations.

More Travel Ideas in Hockessin

Steam locomotive enthusiasts can travel from Greenbank to Hockessin aboard the Historic Red Clay, Inc. (Wilmington and Western) Railway. Guided tours of Auburn Heights Mansion offer another historical experience. They include the two main floors of the antique-furnished Victorian mansion, where three generations of the Marshall family lived. This makes it possible to incorporate technical, agricultural, social, and architectural topics into your travel plans.

When choosing your accommodation in Hockessin, it is therefore worthwhile to first determine your preferred mix of activities. For your further search, you can also explore Christiana, Delaware City, New Castle, Newark, Bear, Claymont, Brookside and Brandywine.

For the broader travel overview: New Castle County.