Here at the site once called Fort Altena, you're looking at the first Swedish settlement in North America, the heart of the New Sweden colony. Built in 1638 and named for Christina, Queen of Sweden, this outpost sat about 1 mile (1.6 km) east of present-day downtown Wilmington where the Brandywine and Christina rivers meet, some 2 miles (3 km) upstream from the Christina’s mouth on the Delaware River. Think back to March 29, 1638: the Swedes arrived in Delaware Bay aboard Kalmar Nyckel and Fogel Grip under Peter Minuit, the former director of New Netherland.
They stepped ashore at a stone outcropping called "The Rocks," a natural wharf where Minuit judged trade in beaver pelts with the Lenape would flourish. He liked the spot for its defensibility and ordered an earthwork fort built around The Rocks. Standing here, you can imagine the ships riding the bay, the crew unloading goods, and the first timber and earth being set into place.
The names and dates you’ve heard—Gustavus Adolphus’s plans, March 29, 1638, Kalmar Nyckel, Fogel Grip—are all stamped into this ground. Picture the Brandywine and Christina meeting ahead, tracing the path those first ships followed.