Delaware County lies just southwest of Philadelphia and is among the most densely settled corners of Pennsylvania, packed into a small wedge between the Delaware River and the state line with Delaware and Maryland. Despite its suburban character, it carries more history per square mile than most American counties its size.
The county seat is Media, a walkable borough built on a hill above Ridley Creek. State Street is the main draw — an unusually lively stretch of independent restaurants, bars, and shops that gives Media the feel of a small city rather than a suburb. The borough also runs one of the last surviving street trolley lines in Pennsylvania, the Route 101, which runs east toward Upper Darby and connects to the Philadelphia subway.
The area's deeper history begins at Chester, on the Delaware River. William Penn stepped ashore here in 1682 and Chester is the oldest continuously settled English town in Pennsylvania. The riverfront is industrial now, but the town has a few surviving colonial-era buildings. Nearby, the Brandywine Battlefield State Park marks the site of the largest land battle of the American Revolution, where British forces under Howe defeated Washington in September 1777.
Two well-regarded universities give the county an academic presence. Swarthmore College occupies a handsome campus in Swarthmore borough, with grounds designed by Frederick Law Olmsted that are open to the public. Villanova University sits along Lancaster Avenue in Radnor Township, the same road that connects a string of affluent Main Line communities stretching northwest toward Paoli.