Newport, DE

Newport is one of Delaware's oldest communities, laid out in 1735 where the Old Kings Road came near the Christina River. Grain, flour, and farm goods once moved through its wharves, turning the small town into a commercial crossroads between Philadelphia and Baltimore. The town is also the home of Oliver Evans, whose flour-mill inventions helped push Delaware's grain trade into a new age. Rail later replaced much of the river traffic, but the Christina still gives Newport its reason for being. Newport is northern Delaware in a river-and-road story.