Dover is the capital of Delaware and sits squarely in the middle of the state, an easy drive from both Philadelphia and the Atlantic beaches. It is a small city — quietly proud of its history — and one that most travelers drive past on the way to somewhere else. That's a mistake worth correcting.
The city was laid out in 1717 on land William Penn had granted decades earlier, and the historic core around The Green still looks much as it did in the 18th century. The Old State House on South State Street is among the oldest legislative buildings in continuous use in the country. Christ Church and its colonial-era burial ground are a short walk away, as is the Governor's Mansion at Woodburn and the Johnson Victrola Museum, which honors the Delaware native who invented the Victrola phonograph. The Golden Fleece Tavern site marks where Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution in 1787.
Dover Air Force Base, on the city's eastern edge, houses the Air Mobility Command Museum, one of the better military aviation collections in the Mid-Atlantic. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Dover Motor Speedway — home to the 46-foot concrete giant Miles the Monster — hosts two major NASCAR race weekends each year. Delaware State University, a historically Black university, adds student energy to an otherwise unhurried town. Silver Lake Park offers pleasant green space and birding on the city's northern edge.